Born in
Brentwood, Essex, the elder son of Werner J. Scheele and his wife, Norah E. Scheele (née Gough) He was educated at
Brentwood School and went on to study at
St Cuthbert's, Durham University. After graduation, he joined the Ford Motor Company. Scheele was fluent in German, French and Spanish, which served him well when he became the chairman of Ford of Europe. An advocate of private funding for universities and strong links to business, in an interview for the BBC, he said: "I think in the future, education and industry need to become even more closely linked than they have been historically. As government funding changes, the replacement could well come through private funding from companies, individuals and grant-giving agencies." Scheele was also chairman of the
Prince of Wales Business and Environment Committee, and chaired the manufacturing group of Foresight 2020. Foresight is a UK government programme which aims to identify the UK's future needs and to build bridges between industry, science and government. Scheele became a Non-Executive Director of
British American Tobacco (BAT) in February 2005. ==Honours==