The long and interesting life of industry veteran Denis Baxter

Obituary

Retired industry veteran Denis Baxter passed away in January, aged 86.

Baxter was born in Liverpool, UK, and arrived in Australia aged 11 in 1950, as one of four children to his mother Lilian and the eminent philanthropist Sir Phillip Baxter, who was a renowned scientist and chemical engineer and a director of the University of New South Wales. He had the Philip Baxter College named in his honour.

Prior to coming to Australia, Baxter had followed his father to Oak Ridge Tennessee where he was working on the atomic bomb development as part of the Manhattan Project. After the war was won, the family returned to England, but his father thought prospects were better in Australia.

His father came south with his family and headed up the Australian Atomic Energy Commission, before leading the University of New South Wales and eventually becoming its first vice-chancellor.

Baxter went to school at Canterbury High with John Howard, went on an exchange student program to the Soviet Union, and finally studied architecture at UNSW, becoming one of the few people to have his university degree signed by his father.

He married and had three children. Then tragedy struck.

He spoke to SPLASH! in 2015 about his tragic loss.

“My wife died very young of cancer, and I was left with a seven-year-old, a five-year-old and an 18-month-old. It was quite a shock to the system. But I was lucky that my parents were living next door, and I struggled on.

“Then in 1986, as Nelleke says, she picked me up in a bar in Sydney.”

Aviation and swimming pools

Baxter had a successful career as an architect, designing many buildings across Sydney and also a hotel in Nauru. But when the 1989/90 recession hit, he found there was not much work for architects.

He found a small company with two employees called Niagara Pool Supplies, which he and Nelleke bought and ran together.

Business was good. Each year the company grew by between 15 per cent and 20 per cent, and by the time they sold the business, they were making the same amount of money in one month that they did in the whole of the first year.

In fact, it was so successful he never went back to being an architect. His natural ability to deal with people and equipment meant he enjoyed the work, often pulling pumps to bits until he could find out what was wrong with them.

A major milestone came when Onga closed their Sydney office and handed all their small customers over to Niagara. The relationship continued when Pentair bought Onga. Although he would never talk a client out of choosing a particular pump, if they had no opinion, he would recommend Pentair – and he made that position clear to his other manufacturers.

Another business highlight was when the new owners of Spa Electrics agreed to his suggestion to do a retro-fit light. Sales went through the roof.

Baxter was also involved with SPASA NSW as its long term treasurer.

The business continued to grow. The first small unit in Bankstown was replaced by a larger one in Regents Park and then an even larger one in Silverwater, which unfortunately burnt down in May 2003.

The Silverwater warehouse was famous for housing Baxter’s dramatic restoration project – a Percival Provost aircraft. When the fire brigade came, they thought the fire had been started by the plane crashing into the building. However, one of the firemen had connections in the pool industry and set the rest of them straight about the plane.

Baxter was an avid collector of antique aircraft, and was instrumental in setting up the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS). He bequeathed his collection (including a Vampire fighter and a Boomerang fighter) to the HARS at Albion Park Rail.

By the time they eventually sold the business, they’d moved to a 3000m2 warehouse in Parramatta where they could house their nearly 10,000 line items.

Pool Systems bought Niagara Pool Supplies in 2014. Sadly, Pool Systems founder Warwick Heathcote also passed away this year.

Nelleke passed away in 2020. Denis Baxter leaves behind three children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

SPLASH! offers sincere condolences to friends, family and colleagues.

IMAGE: Denis Baxter with wife Nelleke at their northern Sydney home in 2015