Edwin Davies

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For the publisher, see Edwin Davies (publisher). For the army general, see Edwin D. Patrick.

Eddy Davies
Born(1946-06-18)18 June 1946
Little Lever, England
Died11 September 2018(2018-09-11) (aged 72)
EducationFarnworth Grammar School
Alma materDurham University
OccupationBusinessman, philanthropist
TitleLord of the Manor of Farnworth
Spouse(s)Susan Davies
Children2

Eddie Davies CBE (18 June 1946 – 11 September 2018) was a British businessman and philanthropist. He served as chairman of the from 1984 to 2006. He was the owner of Bolton Wanderers F.C. until March 2016, when Dean Holdsworth fronted a consortium to take over the club. The Eddie and Susan Davies Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are named in his honour.

Early life[]

Eddie Davies was born on 18 June 1946 in Little Lever, near Bolton, Lancashire, England.[1][2] He was educated at the Farnworth Grammar School in Farnworth, Lancashire, England.[1][2] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from Durham University.[1][3]

Career[]

Davies started his career at Avon Rubber.[3] He worked in management at the from 1968 to 1984.[1] He served as chairman of the from 1984 to 2006.[1]

He joined the board of directors of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in 1999.[2] By 2003, he became the majority shareholder of Burnden Leisure, which owned Bolton Wanderers.[2] In 2011–2013, he was still the owner of the club.[4][5] In October 2014, it was announced that Davies was ready to sell the club.[6] Davies wrote-off loans to Bolton which, including interest, totalled approximately £175 million.[7] 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.[8]

He served on the boards of directors of Moonshift Investments, Sula Group, and Squarestone Brasil.[3] He has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants since 1985 and the Chartered Management Institute since 1996.[3] He became an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to industry in 2000.[2]

As of 2004, he was the 558th richest man in the United Kingdom, with an estimated wealth of £60million.[2]

Philanthropy[]

He was for a time a Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[1] The Eddie and Susan Davies Galleries at the V&A are the result of charitable donations from Davies and his wife.[9] Those five galleries include 200 paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, J. M. W. Turner, Sandro Botticelli, Tintoretto, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edgar Degas and Eugène Delacroix.[10]

He made a charitable contribution of £100,000 to the Royal Bolton Hospital in Bolton for the establishment of a coronary care unit.[2] He also made charitable gift to the Manchester Business School,[3] part of the University of Manchester, which led to the establishment of the Eddie Davies Library.[11] He received an honorary doctorate in 2008.[1]

He became a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for charitable services in 2011.[12]

Personal life[]

He was married to Susan Davies.[10] They had two children.[2] They resided on the Isle of Man.[5] He underwent coronary artery bypass surgery in 1996.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Debretts: Eddie Davies Archived 4 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Eddie Davies profile, Manchester Evening News, 12 August 2004
  3. ^ a b c d e Bloomberg: Eddie Davies OBE
  4. ^ Jamie Jackson, Bolton Wanderers clinging on thanks to owner Eddie Davies's generosity, The Guardian, 31 December 2013
  5. ^ a b Matt Scott, Bolton Wanderers have more to worry about than 'crisis-hit' Arsenal, The Guardian, 22 September 2011
  6. ^ Mark Ogden, Bolton Wanderers for sale, reveals chairman Phil Gartside, The Daily Telegraph, 9 October 2014
  7. ^ "Bolton owner Eddie Davies to write off loans to ease takeover". BBC News. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Eddie Davies: Ex-Bolton Wanderers owner helped save club from administration before death". BBC News. 20 September 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  9. ^ Victoria & Albert Museum: Room 87: Constable, Turner & the Exhibition Landscape
  10. ^ a b Refurbishment of the paintings galleries, 2003: The Eddie and Susan Davies Galleries
  11. ^ "Manchester Business School: Eddie Davies Library". Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  12. ^ New Year honours list: GBEs, DBEs and CBEs, 31 December 2011
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