Vax tycoon dies aged 74

Oct 4 2006 By Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail

A MILLIONAIRE businessman who founded the Vax vacuum cleaning empire in the Midlands has died.

Alan Brazier, who in three years turned a one-man venture into a £60 million business, passed away after a spell in hospital. He was 74.

Mr Brazier had retired from the business in the late 1990s after a colourful career centred around the Droitwich-based Vax empire.

Once a salesman with Rank Xerox in Birmingham, he originally built a vacuum cleaner which was turned down by Hoover, Electrolux and Phillips.

He later built and patented a machine, but did not have the cash to develop a business.

The breakthrough came in the early 1980s after Mr Brazier took over a Telford company and its debts for £1. By 1984 it was making a profit and TV advertising led to a six-week waiting time for orders.

By early 1987, Vax was valued at £60 million and had grown to become the number one seller in the UK market.

Mr Brazier, a hunting and shooting enthusiast who became president of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, leaves a wife, Liz, and grown-up children Emma and Ian.

A funeral service will be held at St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove, at 12.30 pm on Friday, followed by a celebration of his life at the Wheelbarrow Castle pub, Radford, near Inkberrow.