Jack Petchey
{{Short description|English businessman (1925–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Sir Jack Petchey
| honorific_suffix= {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}}
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|7|19|df=y}}
| birth_place = Plaistow, Essex, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|6|27|1925|7|19|df=y}}
| death_place = Wapping, London, England
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| occupation = Businessman and philanthropist
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| spouse = {{plainlist|
- Diane Harrison
- {{marriage|Frances Segelman|2016}}
}}
| children = One son, three daughters
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Sir Jack Petchey {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (19 July 1925 – 27 June 2024) was an English businessman and philanthropist.
Early life
He was born on 19 July 1925 in Plaistow, Essex.{{cite news|last1=Higgins|first1=Ria|title=Sir Jack Petchey|work=The Sunday Times Magazine|date=May 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=FuNWkVxKWcKbr6%2Bqc9rkHQ&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=19 June 2014 |work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/uploads/imagesnew/file/5050+Man.pdf|title=Jack Petchey Foundation – Home|website=www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk|access-date=16 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510143845/http://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/uploads/imagesnew/file/5050%20Man.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2017|url-status=dead}} He came from a working-class family and was brought up in the East End of London,{{cite web|url=http://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/who-is-sir-jack-petchey|title=About Sir Jack Petchey CBE|publisher=Jack Petchey Foundation}} leaving school aged 13.
During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Navy.
Career
Petchey started a car hire and car sales business. From his profits he invested in property and timeshare which grew into a business empire valued over half a billion pounds by 2007. He became known as the grandfather of timeshare, and amassed his fortune with marketing in UK and abroad. It was the resort in Albufeira, Portugal, where the real timeshare boom took place, right up to late 2000s, when the whole conglomerate of leisure businesses was sold.{{cite web|url=http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/MarketsAndSectors/Sectors/article/20070619/fd7c9122-1e5d-11dc-a9c5-00144f2af8e8/Jack-Petchey-Mr-Property.jsp|title=Shares News & Analysis|website=www.investorschronicle.co.uk}} In 1969, he was involved with property development, becoming one of the most successful businessmen in Britain.[http://www.scoutinginlondon.org.uk/Pages/ambasadors.html Scouting In London Ambassador] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908023930/http://www.scoutinginlondon.org.uk/Pages/ambasadors.html |date=8 September 2008 }}
Petchey's involvement in football first came when he was appointed a director of West Ham United in 1978.{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jack-petchey-its-easier-now-for-people-to-get-on-than-ever-before-9431990.html |title=Jack Petchey: 'It's easier now for people to get on than ever before' |newspaper=The Independent |first=Sarah |last=Morrison |date=25 May 2014 |accessdate=30 June 2019}} He then went on to own Watford Football Club which he bought from Elton John in 1987.{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-business-on-jack-petchey-businessman-and-philanthropist-2278476.html |title=The Business On... Jack Petchey, Businessman and philanthropist |newspaper=The Independent |date=4 May 2011 |accessdate=12 September 2018 }} He resigned as chairman in March 1994 and sold the club back to the singer.{{cite web |url=http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/11098237.On_this_date_in_Watford_FC_s_history/ |title=Jack Petchey resigned as Watford chairman 20 years ago today |work=Watford Observer |date=25 March 2014 |access-date=12 September 2018 }}
Philanthropy
The Jack Petchey Foundation runs an Achievement Award scheme – a reward and recognition initiative which enables schools and youth organisations to celebrate the achievements of their young people as well as receive additional funding.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
The foundation has funding available for educational visits and for young volunteers to carry out projects both in the UK and abroad.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} The foundation was also the central funding body of the Petchey Academy and the Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship. The Foundation has a branch in Albufeira, Portugal, which does similar work to its British counterpart.[http://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=2 JackpetcheyFoundation.eu]
Petchey was nominated as a Scouting In London Ambassador for the Scout Association Region for Greater London at an Adult Appreciation ceremony in 2008.
Personal life
Petchey was married twice. He first married Diane Harrison in 1949; they had four children. In 2016 at the age of 90 he married a second time to Frances Segelman, a sculptor. He died at his home in Wapping, London, on 27 June 2024, at the age of 98.{{cite web |last1=Carter |first1=Olivia |title=Sir Jack Petchey: East London businessman dies ages 98 |url=https://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/24416754.sir-jack-petchey-east-london-businessman-dies-ages-98/ |website=Romford Recorder |access-date=27 June 2024 |date=27 June 2024}}
Honours
Petchey was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2004 Birthday Honours for services to Young People in East London and Essex through the Jack Petchey Foundation,United Kingdom list: {{London Gazette |issue=57315 |supp=y |pages=12 |date=11 June 2004}}
and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for charitable services.{{London Gazette |issue=59808 |date=11 June 2011 |page=8 |supp=y }}{{cite news|title=Main list of the 2011 Queen's birthday honours recipients|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/11_06_11honours_mainlist.pdf|publisher=BBC News UK|accessdate=11 June 2011}} He was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to young people in East London and Essex through the Jack Petchey Foundation.{{London Gazette|issue=61450|supp=y|page=N2|date=30 December 2015}}{{cite web|title=New Year's Honours 2016 list|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/489049/NY2016HonoursFullList.pdf|website=GOV.UK|access-date=30 December 2015|date=30 December 2015}}
On 27 May 2010, he was given the Freedom of the Borough of Newham.{{cite web |url=http://www.community-links.org/uploads/editor/Freedom%20of%20the%20Borough%2027%20May%202010.pdf |title=Honorary Freedoms of the Borough 2010 – Old Town Hall, Stratford, London, E15 |publisher=The London Borough of Newham |date=27 May 2010 |access-date=16 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307223544/http://www.community-links.org/uploads/editor/Freedom%20of%20the%20Borough%2027%20May%202010.pdf |archive-date=7 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}
He was also made a Honorary Commodore in the Sea Cadet Corps.{{cite web |url=https://www.sea-cadets.org/articles/2017/01/211-honorary-commodore-scc-for-jack-petchey |title=Honorary Commadore (SCC) for Jack Petchey |work=Sea Cadets |accessdate=6 March 2019}}