Peter de Savary
Encyclopedia
Peter John de Savary is an English entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 and a former Chairman of Millwall F.C.
Millwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...

 In the 1999 Sunday Times Rich List
Sunday Times Rich List
The Sunday Times Rich List is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom, updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times since 1989...

, he was placed in 971st place with an estimated fortune of £21 million, but was not listed in the top thousand places in subsequent editions.

Biography

De Savary built his first business in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 through contacts he made back home in England. The bulk of his business career has been spent in the shipping and oil sectors; he once owned or managed 13 shipyards around the globe, still retaining one shipyard in the United Kingdom, and he still has a global oil-trading and refueling business.

Clubs and property

His first venture into the hospitality was the St. James' Clubs in the late 1970s, in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

, which he sold in the late 1980s to finance the £4m purchase of Skibo Castle
Skibo Castle
Skibo Castle is located to the west of Dornoch in the Highland county of Sutherland, Scotland overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although the castle dates back to the 12th century, the present structure is largely of the 19th century, and early 20th century, when it was the home of industrialist...

.

De Savary built up a large business empire in the 1980s, with property interests including Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....

 and John o' Groats
John o' Groats
John o' Groats is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. Part of the county of Caithness, John o' Groats is popular with tourists because it is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement of mainland Great Britain, although this is not a claim made by the inhabitants...

.

However, in the early 1990s economic downturn his empire collapsed with serious debts – he sold both Land's End and John o' Groats in 1991 for an undisclosed sum to businessman Graham Ferguson Lacey, and 14 of his companies were wound up between 1992 and 1994, with a combined shortfall to creditors of £715 million.

2000s

His recent business activities have 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
Skibo Castle is located to the west of Dornoch in the Highland county of Sutherland, Scotland overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although the castle dates back to the 12th century, the present structure is largely of the 19th century, and early 20th century, when it was the home of industrialist...

 in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, the venue for Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

 and Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie is an English screenwriter and film maker who directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes.-Early life:...

's wedding. Other similar developments have included: the Cherokee Plantation in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

; Stapleford Park
Stapleford Park
Stapleford Park is a Grade I listed country house in Stapleford near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England, now used as a hotel. It was originally the seat of the Sherard family, later the Earls of Harborough and from 1894, of Baron Gretton....

 and Bovey Castle
Bovey Castle
Bovey Castle is a large early 20th century mansion on the edge of Dartmoor, near Moretonhampstead, Devon, England. It is a Grade II* listed buildingand is now a hotel.-History:...

, both in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

; and Carnegie Abbey in Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

. Each is a private club with golf courses and other amenities—clay pigeon shooting, falconry, horseback riding, tennis—depending on what fits with the club's local environment.
He founded the Abaco Club at Winding Bay in Abaco, Bahamas, building a spectacular golf course on the beautiful Winding Bay beach and bluff.
He has recently bought four properties in Grenada in the Caribbean, where he is developing a marina and resort village.

Vanderbilt Hall

In late 2009 Peter de Savary purchased Vanderbilt Hall, a mansion hotel located in Newport, Rhode Island. He has since added a small collection of American Illustration artworks to the property from the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC, including a piece by Howard Chandler Christy
Howard Chandler Christy
Howard Chandler Christy was an American artist and illustrator famous for the "Christy Girl", similar to a "Gibson Girl".He was born in Morgan County and attended early school in Duncan Falls, Ohio...

, titled "Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair". The painting depicts Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...

 composing the song of the same name. Other artists currently on display are: Bradshaw Crandell
Bradshaw Crandell
Bradshaw Crandell was an American artist and illustrator. He was known as the "artist of the stars". Among those who posed for Crandell were Carol Lombard, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Veronica Lake and Lana Turner. In 1921 he began his career with an ad for Lorraine hair nets sold exclusively by...

, William Soare, Phil Berry, R. C. Kauffmann, Julian De Miskey, Constantin Alajalov
Constantin Alajalov
Constantin Alajalov was an American painter, and illustrator.-Life:He immigrated to New York City in 1923.He became a citizen in 1928....

, Helen Dryden
Helen Dryden
Helen Dryden was an American artist and successful industrial designer in the 1920s and '30s. She was reportedly described by the New York Times as being the highest-paid woman artist in the United States, though she lived in comparative poverty in later years.- Education :She was born in...

, John Lagatta, George Hughes
George Hughes
George Hughes may refer to:*George Edward Hughes , Professor of Philosophy at the Victoria University of Wellington*George Hughes , former NFL player*George Hughes , British locomotive engineer...

, Thomas Webb
Thomas Webb
Thomas Webb is the name of:* Thomas Webb , founder of Thomas Webb & Sons* Thomas Webb , Methodist pioneer in the United States* Thomas Smith Webb , Masonic author...

, Rico Tomaso
Rico Tomaso
Rico Tomaso was an illustrator and painter. His works were featured in magazines, novels, and sold as paintings and lithograph prints....

,
Gilbert Bundy, Hans Flato, Carl Burger
Carl Burger
Carl V. Burger was native to Maryville, Tennessee, known for his children's’ and youth literature illustrations for the Newberry Award winning novel Old Yeller by Fred Gipson; Little Rascal by Sterling North, and The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford.- Education :His parents were a banker,...

, Rolf Armstrong
Rolf Armstrong
Rolf Armstrong was an American painter of pin-up art.-Biography:Rolf Armstrong was born in Bay City, Michigan on April 21, 1889 to Richard and Harriet Armstrong. His father owned the Boy-Line Fire Boat Company, which included a line of passenger ships. Some were deployed in Chicago for use at the...

, Earl Bergey.

Yachting

He led the British sailing team in its challenge for the America's Cup in 1983
1983 America's Cup
The 1983 America's Cup was the occasion of the first winning challenge to the New York Yacht Club who had successfully defended the cup over a period of 132 years...

 but his contender Victory 83 was beaten by Australia II
Australia II
Australia II is the Australian 12-metre-class challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982 and won the 1983 America's Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club...

in the final heat.
He used the motoryacht Kalizma (formerly home to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton 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. He founded Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth, Cornwall, which builds and restores luxury yachts. He now is also sponsor of the Grenada Sailing Festival. He has raced for many years in the Bucket Regatta in Newport, RI, and St Barts in the Caribbean. He was awarded the trophy "Spirit of the Bucket" in 2010.

Football

In November 2005 he succeeded Theo Paphitis
Theo Paphitis
Theodorus "Theo" Paphitis is a retail magnate and British entrepreneur of Greek Cypriot origin. He made the majority of his fortune in the retail sector, and is best known to the general public for his appearances on the BBC business programme Dragons' Den and as former chairman of Millwall...

 as Chairman of Millwall Holdings plc and as Chairman of Millwall F.C.
Millwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...

 Stewart Till
Stewart Till
Stewart Till, CBE is the chairman and chief executive of United International Pictures, the biggest film distributor in the world....

 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 financially stricken League One club Plymouth Argyle F.C. However loans secured against the ground by former directors and associated companies proved a huge stumbling block and it seemed uncertain whether de Savary would be pursuing his interest further. As of 23 March 2011, the club remained in administration with the administrators still desperately trying to find a buyer. Peter de Savary denied any interest in buying the club.

Personal life

De Savary is married with five daughters. Two are from his first marriage – Lisa, who has provided him with two grandsons and a granddaughter; Nicola, who is a doctor and mother to three more grandsons. His second wife is Lana, from Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, and the couple have three daughters – Tara; Amber, who dressage rider who represented her country more than 20 times at dressage; and Savannah who is studying at Oxford University. Tara and Amber work with their father in the family business,
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 says: "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
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...

said, to die rich is to die disgraced."

External links

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