Eddie Davies (18 June 1946 – 11 September 2018) was a British businessman and philanthropist. He served as chairman of the Strix Group from 1984 to 2006. He was the owner of

Bolton Wanderers F.C. Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

until March 2016, when

Dean Holdsworth Dean Christopher Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968) is an English former professional football player and manager. As a striker he scored 193 goals in 610 league games over a 22-year career. Despite playing for 16 clubs in 19 spells the majorit ...

fronted a consortium to take over the club. The Eddie and Susan Davies Galleries at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

are named in his honour.

Early life

Eddie Davies was born on 18 June 1946 in

Little Lever Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

, near

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England.Debretts: Eddie Davies
Eddie Davies profile
''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

'', 12 August 2004 He was educated at the

Farnworth Grammar School Farnworth Grammar School was a grammar school founded in 1715 at Farnworth, Lancashire. The school was first established at Moses Gate and educated boys. It relocated to Bolton Road in 1922 and became coeducational at the same time. It closed i ...

Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River Ir ...

, England. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from Durham University.Bloomberg: Eddie Davies OBE
/ref>

Career

Davies started his career at

Avon Rubber Avon Protection plc is a British company that specialises in the engineering and manufacturing of respiratory protection equipment for military, law enforcement and fire personnel. Its corporate headquarters are south of Melksham in Wiltshir ...

. He worked in management at the Scapa Group from 1968 to 1984. He served as chairman of the Strix Group from 1984 to 2006. He joined the board of directors of

in 1999. By 2003, he became the majority shareholder of Burnden Leisure, which owned Bolton Wanderers. In 2011–2013, he was still the owner of the club.Jamie Jackson
Bolton Wanderers clinging on thanks to owner Eddie Davies's generosity
''The Guardian'', 31 December 2013Matt Scott
Bolton Wanderers have more to worry about than 'crisis-hit' Arsenal
''The Guardian'', 22 September 2011 In October 2014, it was announced that Davies was ready to sell the club. Davies wrote-off loans to Bolton which, including interest, totalled approximately £175 million. Shortly after his death, it was revealed that, four days before he died, Davies had given Bolton £5 million to help save the club from administration. He served on the boards of directors of Moonshift Investments, Sula Group, and Squarestone Brasil. He has been a Fellow of the

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is the global professional management accounting body based out of the UK. CIMA offers training and qualification in management accountancy and related subjects. It is focused on accountan ...

since 1985 and the Chartered Management Institute since 1996. He became an

Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) for services to industry in 2000. As of 2004, he was the 558th richest man in the United Kingdom, with an estimated wealth of £60million.

Philanthropy

He was for a time a Trustee of the

in London. The Eddie and Susan Davies Galleries at the V&A are the result of charitable donations from Davies and his wife. Those five galleries include 200 paintings by

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

, John Constable, J. M. W. Turner,

Sandro Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

, Edgar Degas and

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

.Refurbishment of the paintings galleries, 2003: The Eddie and Susan Davies Galleries
/ref> He made a charitable contribution of £100,000 to the

Royal Bolton Hospital The Royal Bolton Hospital is an acute general hospital in Farnworth, Greater Manchester. It is managed by the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was established as a fever hospital and built adjacent to the 'Fishpool Workhouse' in ...

for the establishment of a coronary care unit. He also made charitable gift to the

Manchester Business School Alliance Manchester Business School (Alliance MBS) is the business school of the University of Manchester in Manchester, England. One of the most prestigious business schools in the United Kingdom, it is also the second oldest in the UK, and pro ...

, part of the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

, which led to the establishment of the Eddie Davies Library. He received an honorary doctorate in 2008. He became a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for charitable services in 2011.New Year honours list: GBEs, DBEs and CBEs
31 December 2011

Personal life

He was married to Susan Davies. They had two children. They resided on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. He underwent coronary artery bypass surgery in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Eddie 1946 births 2018 deaths People from Little Lever Manx people Alumni of Durham University Bolton Wanderers F.C. People associated with the Victoria and Albert Museum Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Farnworth Grammar School 20th-century British philanthropists 20th-century English businesspeople