Harry Travis, who has died aged 93, was well known and respected in the dairy industry and in Methodism.

For the past 60 years he has run a dairy engineering business, based in Rishworth and latterly in Ripponden.

He was born in January 1922 in Oldham. His parents worked in a cotton mill and also had a smallholding and greengrocery round. He and his older brother Frank were the survivors of five siblings, and Harry received his education at Moorside School and Oldham Technical School.

Mr Travis left school at 14 and worked as a parcel boy on Oldham Corporation Buses. In 1942 Harry volunteered for the Army but was rejected on medical grounds, with a previously undiagnosed heart defect.

He subsequently began work in Trafford Park assembling Willis Jeeps. Part of the job involved delivering the new vehicles to Aintree Racecourse, but the temptations of the East Lancashire Road, reputedly the fastest in the country, were too much for the young delivery drivers; and a number of Jeeps failed to reach their destination.

After the war Harry worked as a sales representative for Chadwicks of Bury, selling supplies to farmers who produced and bottled milk. There were hundreds of these producer retailers and Harry reckoned that a man could make a living with just 12 cows and a few hens.

In 1951 he married Sheila Longbottom, the daughter of a Yorkshire mill owner, and set up home in Middleton, Manchester. Then in 1954 Harry set up his own business in competition with Chadwicks and met with success. His customer base was in Yorkshire rather than Lancashire and so in 1960 he moved home and business to Rishworth.

The business flourished and eventually outgrew the premises and as a limited company, Harry Travis [Rishworth] Ltd, moved to Ripponden.

He was a lifelong Methodist and a local preacher for over 50 years. His faith was an integral part of his life and business; he shared his faith with his customers and prayed with those who were facing difficult times and in need of spiritual support. Representatives who came to see him were left in no doubt that swearing would guarantee that they would receive no orders from him.

He is survived by his wife Sheila, and sons John and Mark, and daughter Ruth.