Rex Wright, former general manager of the Illawarra Coke Company, has passed away in a New Zealand hiking accident.
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Stuff.co.nz reported Mr Wright, 70, was walking along a section of the Routeburn Track on the South Island at around 12.30pm on Friday.
Mr Wright was about to step onto a bridge when he slipped and fell.
Low cloud and high wind prevented the immediate recovery of his body.
He was remembered by those who knew him as "a genuinely good bloke".
As chairman of the Illawarra Coke Company, Mr Wright oversaw the closure of the Coalcliff operations in 2013 - just short of its 100th anniversary.
"In the last two years ICC has been battling to withstand the negative combination of the effects of the European economic crisis on the steelmaking industry which has led to an oversupply of coke worldwide, as well as substantially reduced demand," Mr Wright said at the time.
"We export around 70 to 75 per cent of our output, so we are totally exposed to what happens in the global economy."
A year later he also saw the winding up of production at the Corrimal Cokeworks.
He expressed his sympathy for the workers who would be out of a job.
"Some men haven't got jobs to go to and they realise the employment situation in the Illawarra for industrial workers like themselves is somewhat bleak," Mr Wright said.
"I do know from speaking to some ... some have jobs but quite a few don't have jobs to go to."
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