Peter de Savary, known universally as PdeS, died unexpectedly on 30 October at the age of 78, following a career spanning six decades and four continents.
Born in July 1944, the entrepreneur rose to prominence in the 1980s as a keen yachtsman leading the British challenge for the America’s Cup in 1983 and as a visionary entrepreneur, at one point owning both the most southern and northern points of the UK: Land’s End and John O’Groats.
Having started out with nothing when he left school at 16, de Savary went on to apply his skills in a range of areas including real estate, the petroleum industry, shipping, shipyards, imports and exports and the club and hospitality industry.
De Savary worked with local partners from the offset of his career, starting in the 1960s when he established an import and export business in Nigeria, then in the Middle East in the 1970s where he collaborated on projects ranging from oil contracts with the national oil company to the creation of a royal camel milking parlour for the king of Saudi Arabia.
During his extensive career, the entrepreneur founded the worldwide St James’s Clubs in London, Paris, Los Angeles, New York and Antigua, and The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle in Scotland. His projects also included Glenborrodale Castle (Scotland), Stapleford Park (England), Cherokee Plantation (South Carolina), Carnegie Abbey (Newport, Rhode Island), Bovey Castle (England) and the Abaco Club (Bahamas).
The businessman was also responsible for the regeneration of industrial wasteland in the US and UK. His vision brought to life more than 60 hotels, resorts and hospitality projects, including seven championship golf courses and three world-class marinas.
In recent years, de Savary spent his time developing a portfolio of award-winning boutique hotels with his wife Lana, who will remain as chairman. With his typically quirky flair, he pioneered the reinvention of quintessentially British spaces into luxury places to stay, enabling his memory to live on in features such as his beach huts at The Cary Arms, potting shed rooms at the Eastbury Hotel and shepherds’ huts at The Dittisham Hideaway.
He will also be remembered as a passionate philanthropist, particularly focused on initiatives that supported animals and disadvantaged children. He was especially committed to his work as a patron and board member of the British Teenage Cancer Trust.
De Savary has been described as a man of tremendous vision with boundless energy, enthusiasm and attention to detail, inspiring tremendous loyalty from those who worked with him. He was said to be at his happiest smoking a large Cuban cigar, on a vintage sailboat with his trusty chihuahua by his side. He maintained throughout his career that the most important thing in life was family.
His wife Lana said: “Peter was extraordinary, not just as a businessman but as a wonderful mentor, loving husband and devoted father of his five daughters. He was a remarkable man and an enormous gap will be left in our lives without him.”
Updated: A service will be held at 11am on 21 November at St Luke’s Church, Sydney Street (SW3 6NH).
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