Our father, Marcel Van Cleemput, who has died aged 86, was affectionately known as "Mr Corgi". He was responsible for every Corgi toy model in his role as chief designer, a position he held from 1956 until 1983.
Marcel joined the Mettoy company, which produced the Corgi range, on 1 January 1954. He did the drawing of the very first Corgi model, a Ford Consul, and subsequently designed and oversaw designs for every Corgi model produced until the company went into liquidation in 1983. These included the James Bond cars, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang models and the Batmobile among many favourites.
Marcel was the author of The Great Book of Corgi (1989), which became known as "the Corgi bible", and subsequently The New Great Book of Corgi (2010). He also wrote an autobiography, La Vie en Rose.
Born in Croix, near Lille, Marcel moved to England in 1935 at the age of nine. He later served in the French army before returning again to England to marry his fiancee, Molly, whom he had proposed to before his departure for the second world war – and only three weeks after they had met. They married in Northampton in 1950.
Marcel and Molly spent the last 23 years living in the village of Great Brington, Northamptonshire, where Marcel was an active, much-loved and respected member of the village committee. He was involved in the planning of many village events and initiated a piste for boules in the Reading Rooms car park in Great Brington, which was for some years the scene of Sunday night gatherings.
Marcel is survived by Molly, us, his granddaughters, Karen and Laura, and great-grandchildren, Maddie, Charlie and Evelyn.