Peter De Savary
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Peter John de Savary (11 July 1944 – 30 October 2022) was a British businessman in shipping, oil and property. He once owned or managed 13 shipyards around the globe and had global oil-trading and refuelling businesses. He was the Chairman of
Millwall F.C. Millwall Football Club () is a professional football club in Bermondsey, South East London, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its nam ...
In 1997, ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' reported his fortune as £24 million, in the 1999
Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and has been published as a magazine supplement by British national ...
, he was placed in 971st place with an estimated fortune of £21 million and in 2002 £34 million. He was not listed in the top thousand places in subsequent editions.


Biography


Early life

De Savary was the son of a French-born
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
farmer,Garnier, Clare (7 June 1997
"De Savary disinherits his daughters"
''The Independent''. Retrieved 16 June 2013
and was educated in Britain at Charterhouse,
Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...
, from which he was expelled at the age of 16.Stock, Jon (15 July 2000
"Peter the pirate jumps ship again"
''Financial Times''. Retrieved 16 July 2013
He moved to Canada where his mother and stepfather lived; he did gardening, baby-sitting and children's private tuition. At the age of 18, with his wife Marcia, he moved back to the UK to work for his father. During a visit to Canada in 1969 he took over a small import-export agency, Afrex, that did business in Africa. On a subsequent flight to Nigeria he met the brother of the
President of Nigeria The president of Nigeria, officially the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the Federal Government an ...
with whom he went into business supplying wheat, flour, steel, cement and other goods to
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
and other African countries making him a millionaire by the age of 30.Schuch, Beverly (7 April 2001
"Peter de Savary Turns His Passions Into Profits"
''CNN''. Retrieved 16 July 2013
De Savary purchased a part-ownership in a
Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
-registered oil company called Artoc. With others he also started a bank in
Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas. As of April 2023, the preliminary results of ...
. The bank specialised in investing in property, shipping, oil refineries and coal mining in South America. The bank was not very successful and in 1980 lost $64 million. De Savary negotiated a deal with the Italian financier
Roberto Calvi Roberto Calvi (13 April 1920 – 17 June 1982) was an Italian banker, dubbed "God's Banker" () by the press because of his close business dealings with the Holy See. He was a native of Milan and was chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed ...
for Calvi to buy a 20% share in Artoc but Calvi was found hanged under
Blackfriars Bridge Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple C ...
in London in 1984 and de Savary left Artoc.


Clubs and property

His first venture into hospitality was the St. James' Clubs in the late 1970s, in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, London, Paris and
Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...
, which he sold in the late 1980s to finance the £4m purchase of
Skibo Castle Skibo Castle (Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Sgìobail'') is located to the west of Dornoch in the Highland (council area), Highland county of Sutherland, Scotland overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although largely of the 19th century and early 20th ce ...
. De Savary built up a large business empire in the 1980s, with property interests including
Land's End Land's End ( or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...
and
John o' Groats John o' Groats () is a village 2.5 mi (4 km) north-east of Canisbay, in the historic county of Caithness, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's north-eastern tip and is popular with tourists. The northernmost point of mainland Scotland is ...
. However, in the early 1990s economic downturn his empire collapsed – he sold both Land's End and John o' Groats in 1991 for an undisclosed sum to the businessman Graham Ferguson Lacey, and his holding company Placeton became insolvent in 1994 with debts of £200 million by one source and £715 million by another.Clancy, Ray (10 October 2008
"Peter John de Savary : The man behind a thousand ventures"
''Property Community''. Retrieved 16 June 2013
In 1997, he bought Vernon Court, a 14,000-square-foot in Newport RI. He planned to develop it into a members-only hotel similar to his Skibo Castle in Scotland. However, due to objection by neighbours the plans were dropped and the mansion was sold the following year.


2000s

His business activities since 2000 concentrated on property development and hotels, with a number of major country house hotels incorporating golf courses. De Savary saw a niche for the affluent: leisure properties that were small enough to make guests feel as though they were on their own private estate, but equipped with all the facilities of the world's great hotels. His first such development was The Carnegie Club at
Skibo Castle Skibo Castle (Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Sgìobail'') is located to the west of Dornoch in the Highland (council area), Highland county of Sutherland, Scotland overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although largely of the 19th century and early 20th ce ...
in Scotland, the venue for
Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
and
Guy Ritchie Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter known primarily for British comedy gangster films and large-scale action-adventure films. Ritchie left school at the age of 15, and worked in e ...
's wedding. This was sold in 2003 to Ellis Short. Through his wife Lana's company, Havana West,Koening, Chris (21 July 2011
"Old Swan and Minster Mill"
''The Oxford Times''. Retrieved 16 June 2013
other similar developments have included: the Cherokee Plantation in
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
;
Stapleford Park Stapleford Park is a Grade I listed country house in Stapleford, Leicestershire, Stapleford, near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England, which is now used as a hotel. It was originally the seat of the Sherard and Tamblyn families, later the Ear ...
and
Bovey Castle Bovey Castle, formerly the Manor House Hotel, is a large early 20th-century mansion on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, near Moretonhampstead, Devon, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is now a hotel with 59 individually desig ...
, both in England; and Carnegie Abbey in
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
. Each is a private club with golf courses and other amenities — clay pigeon shooting, falconry, horse riding, tennis — depending on what fits with the club's local environment. Again with Lana's Havana West company he founded the Abaco Club at Winding Bay in Abaco,
Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
, building a golf course at the location. He bought four properties in
Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...
in the Caribbean, where he developed a marina and resort village. In late 2009, de Savary purchased a former YMCA located in Newport, RI, that had been converted into Vanderbilt Hall hotel. He added a small collection of ''American Illustration'' artworks to the property from the American Illustrators Gallery, New York, including a piece by
Howard Chandler Christy Howard Chandler Christy (January 10, 1872 – March 3, 1952) was an American artist and illustrator. Famous for the "Christy Girl" – a colorful and illustrious successor to the "Gibson Girl" – Christy is also widely known for his ico ...
titled "
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864), published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1854. Foster wrote the song with his estranged wife Jane McDowell in mind. The lyrics allude to a permanent sepa ...
". The painting depicts
Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Folk music, folk music during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He wr ...
composing the song of the same name. Other artists on display included
Bradshaw Crandell Bradshaw Crandell (June 14, 1896 – January 25, 1966) was an American artist and illustrator. He was known as the "artist of the stars". Among those who posed for Crandell were Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Veronica Lake and Lana Tur ...
, Constantin Alajalov, Helen Dryden, John Lagatta, George Hughes, Thomas Webb,
Rico Tomaso Rico Tomaso (21 February 1898 in Chicago, Illinois – August 1985 in New York, New York) was an illustrator and painter. His works were featured in magazines, novels, and sold as paintings and lithograph prints. In his youth, Tomaso played the p ...
, Carl Burger and
Rolf Armstrong Rolf Armstrong (April 21, 1889 – February 22, 1960) was an American commercial artist specializing in glamorous depictions of female subjects. He is best known for his magazine covers and calendar art. In 1960 the New York Times dubbed him th ...
. The property was sold to Grace Hotels in 2010, then to Auberge Resorts Collection in 2018.


Yachting

De Savary led the British sailing team in its challenge for the America's Cup in 1983 but his contender, ''
Victory 83 ''Victory '83'' is a 12-metre class yacht that competed in the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup. References 12-metre class yachts Sailing yachts of the United Kingdom Louis Vuitton Cup yachts {{ship-stub ...
'', was beaten by ''
Australia II ''Australia II'' (KA 6) is an Australian 12-metre-class America's Cup challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982 and won the 1983 America's Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Skippered by John Bertrand, she was the first successf ...
'' in the final heat. In 1992 de Savary withdrew from the race as he could not raise the £2 million necessary to compete. De Savary used the motor yacht ''Kalizma'' (formerly home to
Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...
and
Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...
during filming in London, named for their children) as a support vessel for the America's Cup races, but has since sold the ship. He also once owned the luxury yacht MY ''Land's End''. In 1988 he founded Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth, Cornwall, which builds and restores luxury yachts. He was responsible for the development of the new housing complex called Port Pendennis, also in Falmouth, which adjoins the shipyard there. He was also a sponsor of the Grenada Sailing Festival. De Savary raced for many years in the Bucket Regatta in Newport, Rhode Island, and St Barts in the Caribbean. He was awarded the trophy "Spirit of the Bucket" in 2010. He was a member of the
Royal Thames Yacht Club The Royal Thames Yacht Club (RTYC) is the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the world, and the oldest yacht club in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are located at 60 Knightsbridge, London, England, overlooking Hyde Park. The clu ...
and the
New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...
.


Football

In November 2005, he succeeded
Theo Paphitis Theodoros Paphitis (; born 24 September 1959) is a Greek-Cypriot British retail magnate and entrepreneur. He is best known for his appearances on the BBC business programme '' Dragons' Den'' and as former chairman of Millwall Football Club. Pap ...
as chairman of Millwall Holdings plc and as chairman of
Millwall F.C. Millwall Football Club () is a professional football club in Bermondsey, South East London, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its nam ...
Stewart Till Stewart Till, CBE (born 1951) was the chairman and chief executive of United International Pictures from 2002 to 2006. He is a graduate of the University of Bath. Till was deputy managing director of British Sky Broadcasting's movie channels an ...
succeeded him on 3 May 2006 as the football club chairman, and de Savary remained as chairman of Millwall Holdings plc until October 2006. In March 2011, de Savary was linked with a deal to purchase the financially stricken League One club Plymouth Argyle F.C. However, de Savary denied any interest in buying the club, which was eventually purchased by
Plymouth City Council Plymouth City Council is the local authority for the city of Plymouth, in the ceremonial county of Devon, England. Plymouth has had a council since 1439, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1998 the council has been a unitary aut ...
the following October.


Political activity

In 1997 De Savary stood as a
Referendum Party The Referendum Party was a Eurosceptic, single-issue party, single-issue political party that was active in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 1997. The party's sole objective was for a referendum to be held on the nature of the UK's membership ...
candidate for
Falmouth and Camborne Falmouth and Camborne was, from 1950 until 2010, a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Histo ...
. He came fourth receiving 3,534 (6.6%) votes.


Personal life and death

De Savary was married three times. He had five daughters, two from his first marriage ( Lisa, who worked in public relations in 1997 and as a photographer in 2010Heliker, Adam (25 April 2010
"Cameron voted out by his first love boot"
''The Daily Express''. Retrieved 16 July 2013
and who provided him with two grandsons and a granddaughter and Nicola, who studied medicine at
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
, is a doctor and mother to three more grandsons, Jack, Henry and Walter Moore). His second wife was his personal assistant Alice Simms to whom he was only married for a year. His third wife was Lana Paton, from
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
. He had three daughters by Lana (Tara, Amber and Savannah). Amber was a dressage rider who represented her country more than 20 times at dressage. In December 1987, after departing from St. Barthélemy in the Caribbean with his pilot, a nanny, his pregnant wife and his three daughters, their plane went into a stall, plunged into the Caribbean and landed upside down. The pilot died, and one of de Savary's daughters had to be revived on the beach. De Savary said, "At that point, my philosophy on life changed a little. When you genuinely look death in the eye, you know that nothing's going with you, and life is but a thread. It's a pretty tenuous thing we're hanging on to. So, what is the point of making money? I concluded it certainly isn't for accumulating it. That's the most stupid thing I ever heard of. So, there can be only one point, and that's to spend it. Now, I'm not ridiculously wasteful, but I may be slightly extravagant. As
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...
said, 'to die rich is to die disgraced'." De Savary died in London from a heart attack on 30 October 2022, at the age of 78.Peter De Savary dies


References


External links


Official websiteMY ''Land's End''"De Savary sets Premiership target"
''BBC Sport'', 30 November 2005
Port Louis GrenadaMount Cinnamon GrenadaVanderbilt Hall, Newport RI
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Savary, Peter 1944 births 2022 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School English businesspeople English football chairmen and investors English people of French descent Referendum Party politicians British expatriates in Nigeria Millwall F.C. directors and chairmen People from Burnham-on-Crouch