David Osorio obituary

My father-in-law, David Osorio, who has died aged 91, was a civil engineer specialising in underwater pipelines who also designed coastal defences – sea walls, breakwaters and groynes – around Britain’s shores. At many seaside locations he would point out that holidaymakers were able to enjoy the beach only because he had propped up a nearby cliff. In the 1970s and 80s, as councils became more environmentally aware, he also pioneered new methods of constructing sewage outfalls to disperse effluent much further out to sea, laying ambitious submarine tunnels in the UK, Australia and East Asia. David was born in north London. His family moved when he was an infant to Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, from where his parents travelled into London for work. His mother, Frances (nee Schlesinger), ran a social club and his father, Arnold, worked for the family firm, Ripolin, the first commercial producer of enamel paint. At Bedales school in Hampshire, David acquired longstanding interests in carpentry and sailing, and he built his first boat – the first of three he constructed – at the age of 16. He studied engineering at Imperial College, London, and then served on a minesweeper during hi