Arthur “Rupert” Neve

Arthur “Rupert” Neve of Wimberley, died on Feb. 12, of non-Covid pneumonia and cardiac failure. He was 94.

He is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Evelyn, children, Mary, David, John, Stephen and Ann, nine grandchildren, and other family members who were kept away in Europe at this sad time, locked down by Covid-19 restrictions.

He was born July 31, 1926, in Newton Abbott, Devon, UK, and raised in Argentina by missionary parents Arthur Osmond and Doris Mary. Following British Army service in the Royal Signal Corps from 1943 to 1945, he settled back in the U.K., where he worked and raised his family.

Rupert and Evelyn moved to Wimberley in 1994 and became U.S. citizens in 2002. They found their physical home and then their spiritual home at Chapel in the Hills, where they enjoyed fellowship for many years and always felt themselves to be an integral part of that community. There was mutual support over their time there and more recently toward both Rupert and Evelyn as time started to take its toll. They always said old age is not for the faint hearted!

Rupert was known the world over for his innovative designs of custom-built sound reproduction equipment for the recording, TV, film, and broadcasting industries, including the legendary NEVE Mixing Consoles.

Of the many awards he earned, he was most proud to be the third person awarded a Technical Grammy by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1997.

He was also renowned for elevating analogue circuit design, and in his final months was still producing ideas, which sadly could evolve no further due to his failing health and the limits of the pandemic, which prevented his fellow engineers from helping him work them up.

He leaves an incredible legacy, not least to his family, for whom he was just “Dad” or “Grandad.” To them he was an unassuming man who worked hard, was unafraid of any domestic task, especially cooking, and lived an ordinary life. To his industry, he was a genius whom people would scrabble to meet and shake his hand, whether at a Grammy ceremony or in the supermarket. He absorbed it all with dignity and generosity (and loved it too!).

Due to the pandemic, there will be no funeral at this time. Arrangements for a celebration of his life for family and friends will be planned when it is safe to do so.