My father, Tony Turvey, who has died aged 76, was a textile technologist and for many years managed mills for the textiles company Courtaulds.

In the late 1970s he set up his own business in textile wallcoverings, developing the “woolly wall”, a wallpaper with vertical pieces of twisted fleece stuck to it so that no paper showed. This was frequently spotted on TV backdrops for shows such as Parkinson and the Nine O’Clock News, as well as in swanky hotels. He designed and made the huge, complex machine for its production. Later he created a vandal-proof glass, using a resin he had developed, which he sold to many councils and companies for use in bus shelters.

After working for himself for about 20 years, he took a postgraduate certificate in education at Manchester University and became a design and technology teacher, retiring in 1997.

Tony was born in Daventry, Northamptonshire, the son of Gilbert Turvey, a gasworks storekeeper, and his wife, Bridget (nee Finnan). He grew up in Coventry and attended Bishop Ullathorne RC grammar school. He started work at Courtaulds in Coventry in his late teens, and the company sponsored his studies in textile technology at Leeds University. In 1966 he married Margaret Perry, whom he had known from schooldays, and they moved to Rochdale, where he worked for Courtaulds in the labs at the textile development unit. In the early 70s Tony became the manager of a group of five Courtaulds mills in Lancashire.

Tony was also a talented athlete, who in the 1950s carried the Queen’s baton for the Empire and Commonwealth Games alongside Roger Bannister. He played rugby for Headingley while at university. He was always energised by watching his grandchildren play their various sports, and his shouts of support could be heard clearly across the pool, ice rink or frozen sports pitch.

He was a longstanding and active member of Rochdale Sub Aqua Club. Following an incident at a dive, he made significant contributions to the lives of others by introducing and teaching safety skills to his fellow scuba divers. This was a theme that ran throughout our dad’s life. Another example comes from his own experience of care during his treatment for bowel cancer: he ensured that evidence-based improvements were made to local treatment protocols for the disease.

He was courageous and outspoken, an inspiration to more people than he realised.

He is survived by Margaret, by their daughters, Rachel and me, and by seven grandchildren. Another daughter, Vanessa, died in 1988.