Alan Edward Higgs was a businessman who became a multimillionaire mainly from his house building business in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, as well as from other businesses in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He died in 1979, and because he thought that inherited wealth did more harm than good, he made provision for a charity to be created after his death to help deprived children from

and nearby localities.

Alan Edward Higgs Charity

The Alan Edward Higgs Charity (sometimes incorrectly called the Alan Higgs Trust) benefited from Higgs's entire estate of approximately £26 million. It was set up specifically to help deprived children from Coventry. Higgs's son

Derek Higgs Sir Derek Alan Higgs (3 April 1944 – 28 April 2008) was an English businessman and merchant banker. He was knighted in 2004. His father, Alan Higgs, was a multimillionaire through property businesses in the Midlands. Early life Sir Derek wa ...

, who was knighted in 2004, and his daughter became the trustees. The charity has given millions of pounds to good causes over the years. It gave the money to build

The Alan Higgs Centre The Alan Higgs Centre is a leisure centre situated in about grounds near to the River Sowe, on Allard Way in the south-east of Coventry, England. History The building was funded by the Alan Higgs Charity. It was designed by RHWL architects ...

, a leisure centre in southeast Coventry, and partly owned the

Ricoh Arena The Coventry Building Society Arena (often shortened to the CBS Arena or just simply Coventry Arena, and formerly known as the Ricoh Arena) is a complex in Coventry, West Midlands, England. It includes a 32,609-seater stadium which is currentl ...

References

1979 deaths English businesspeople English philanthropists Year of birth missing {{philanthropist-stub