History

George Drexler was born near Prague in 1908 and arrived in England in 1935. He went to University and studied the equivalent of an MBA.

In the early 1930s he moved to Hamburg and worked for a German office supply company who in 1935 sent him to London to start a branch in England. After a few months of successful trading he decided to start on his own.

He had no money but met a retired ICI director who lent him £100 and this was to be the start of the Ofrex Group of Companies. The companies flourished and even during the war continued to trade successfully. The group had very positive growth both in the UK and abroad manufacturing many items and buying in others. The items included stapling machines, staples, carbon paper, typewriter ribbons, copying machines etc.

Rexel sold these items to the retailers and Ofrex sold to the end user (offices, government factories etc.) 1000 people were employed throughout the group.

The group went public in the 1960s and Mr Drexler was awarded an OBE in 1976 for his services to export. In the mid 1970’s the group was sold to American Brands and managed here by Gallaghers Ltd, a member of that group.

His daughter Tina Dresher was on the main board of the Group for many years until the late 1980s.

The George Drexler Foundation was created by George Drexler when the company moved from private ownership to a quoted company. The objects of the Foundation are to assist former employers of the Group who find themselves unable to manage in retirement on their pensions and to provide financial assistance to individuals in full time education. Tina Dresher has been involved with this Foundation for over 40 years and is Chair of the Trustees.

Find out more about The George Drexler Foundation on the Charity Commission website

Trustees

Chair Trustee – Mrs Tina Dresher

Daughter of the late George Drexler

Miss Leela Kapila OBE FRCS

Retired paediatric surgeon

Mr Michael Edgar M.Chir, FRCS

Retired orthopaedic surgeon &
Emeritus Reader in Surgery at UCL

Mr Alastair Collett

Partner at Bircham Dyson Bell