Leslie Howard Silver,

OBE 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 ...

(22 January 1925 – 29 December 2014) was a British executive who was chairman of Leeds United football club and

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of Leeds Metropolitan University. He was the founder of Silver Paint and Lacquer, later known as Kalon Group PLC, from which he retired in 1991.

Early life

Silver was born in London on 22 January 1925 as a grandson to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrants from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

War service

Leslie Silver was born and brought up in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

, east London, a "poor, working-class background", where his father worked in a clothing factory as a pattern cutter and designer. Silver left school, aged 14, at Easter 1939 and worked in a bookshop. In 1940, after the clothing factory his father worked in was bombed, the family moved to Leeds where his father was employed by Sumrie in the city's thriving clothing trade. Silver volunteered for the RAF in 1943 at the age of 17. After training as

aircrew Aircrew, also called flight crew, are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions ...

, he joined Bomber Command in February 1944 as a

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air me ...

. He flew the full quota of 250 operational hours with

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161 Year 161 ( CLXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Aurelius (or, less frequently, year 914 '' Ab urbe condi ...

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and 356 Squadrons, consisting of more than 40 operations in Europe and 20 in the Far East. In the Far East, missions included dropping supplies into Changi gaol. Silver left the RAF in 1947, aged 22. In 2013, at the age of 88, he was awarded the Bomber Command Clasp.

Business

After the war Silver returned to Leeds and went into business, laying the foundation for his life’s work, the highly successful Leyland Paints company, which began in 1947 as the Silver Paint and Lacquer Company Limited. Silver founded the Silver Paint and Lacquer Co.—SPL, as it became known—in 1947 when he left the RAF. Using his £1,000 gratuity and a loan, Silver manufactured

nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

thinners, mainly for the car industry. In the 1950s the product range was extended to include decorative paint products. Initially SPL was based in Leeds, but by the 1960s the factory lacked sufficient space and in 1963 moved to larger premises in Batley. In 1976 and 1981 respectively the company took over the Leeds Paint Manufacturing Company and Bestobell Paints. In 1982 the company was renamed Kalon. The word is derived from Greek and means "for the greater good". In 1982 Silver was awarded the

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 ...

for services to export and named Yorkshire Businessman of the Year in 1983. During his long service in the paint industry, he held national office as: *President of the Oil and Colour Chemists Association (1973–75) *President of the Paint Industries Club (1978–79) *President of the Paintmakers Association of Great Britain Limited (1979–80) *President of the Paint Research Association (1981–82) It was the first time any one individual had served as president of the four associations relating to the surface coating industry. In 1983 the company moved again, this time from Batley to the much larger (and current) premises off Huddersfield Road in Birstall. In 1985, Kalon acquired Leyland Paints. The reverse takeover led to the flotation of Kalon on the London Stock Exchange and the formation of Kalon Group PLC. Silver had been, since June 1998, a director of Fifth Argyll Ltd., a

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

-based property company.

Football

Silver joined the

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

of Leeds United A.F.C. in 1981, becoming chairman in 1983, a post he held until 1996. During his time as chairman of Leeds United, the club won promotion from the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

to the First Division and won the top-flight league title in 1992. Leeds United remain the last team to win the top flight English football title with an English manager,

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

. Silver later served as president of Harrogate Football Club and honorary president of amateur club Garforth A.F.C.

Leeds Metropolitan University

In 1988, Silver was invited to chair a formation committee of the then Leeds Polytechnic, subsequently becoming chairman of the board of governors of the Polytechnic, which became Leeds Metropolitan University. On 1 January 1999, he became the university's first

. He resigned early 2005. A building on the campus is named after him. The University library, named after his late wife Mrs Sheila Silver.

References

External links

Leyland Paints website
accessed 29 December 2014
Funeral tributes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver, Leslie 1925 births 2014 deaths Businesspeople from Leeds Chairmen of Leeds United F.C. English people of Polish descent English people of Jewish descent Officers of the Order of the British Empire People associated with Leeds Beckett University People from Walthamstow Place of death missing Sportspeople from Yorkshire Royal Air Force personnel of World War II 20th-century English businesspeople