The man affectionately known as Mr Maitland has taken a step back from the company he built that has helped more than 20,000 young people find their place in the workforce.
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Milton Morris, the founding chairman and director of Hunter Valley Training Company, announced this week that he had stood down from his role as director after 34 years as a key decision maker at the firm.
The former Member for Maitland, now 91, told the Mercury that he felt the time was right to take a step back.
“I think it’s time to take it a little easier,” he said.
“It’s not unbridled joy, but I understand it’s time. Many would say ‘gosh, you should have done it 20 years ago’, but I’ve just enjoyed every bit of it – it’s been a marvel.”
But Mr Morris doesn’t plan to disappear.
He will be the figure head of the company after being named its first patron.
“No one wanted to let him go or have his association with the company severed, so the board asked him if he’d consider being patron,” Kay Sharp, who has worked with Mr Morris for 40 years, said.
“He’s always kind, he’s considerate and he’s certainly very thoughtful. He’s wily, in that when I first started working with him, I wasn’t used to having praise and he was very forthcoming with praise.
“If you ask anyone here, they would all fight each other to get him a cup of tea. They love him and they definitely respect him.”
Mr Morris announced his intention to stand down from the training company’s board at the annual general meeting in Sydney on Tuesday.
He and Ms Sharp were instrumental in starting the company in 1981, after Mr Morris, a former state Liberal MP, was approached by the then-Labor government to help provide more trade training in the Hunter.
Hunter Valley Training Company has taught workplace skills to more than 20,000 people during the past three decades.
It was established to set up the Bayswater Power Station in Muswellbrook, but was allowed to continue beyond its initial six-year term.
Mr Morris was chairman of the company for the first 30 years and has been a director on the board in the four years since he stood down from that role.
He said his proudest achievement was the restoration of the 3801 steam train, which directly provided more than 330 apprenticeship positions between 1983 and 1986.
“I wish there had been more opportunities,” Mr Morris said.
“All the opportunities that were there have all diminished a bit and I’m thinking the state and federal [governments] will shortly be doing something about it and we need to be part of it.”
