Former Morrisons chairman dies aged 85

Sir Ken Morrison, the former chairman of Morrisons supermarkets, has died peacefully at home in North Yorkshire at the age of 85 following a short illness.

Morrison – who transformed the retailer from a small family business into the UK’s fourth largest food retailer – was chairman until his retirement in 2008, when Morrisons had 375 stores and more than nine million customers a week.

He joined Morrisons when he finished his National Service in 1952 and became chairman and managing director just four years later. It was under his leadership that Morrisons opened up its first town-centre shop in 1958 and its first supermarket in 1961, in Bradford.

He was awarded the CBE in 1990 and knighted in the Millennium New Year's Honours list for his services to the food retailing industry.

Morrison’s legacy includes a number of innovations, such as Market Street and Morrisons unique vertical integration model.

Current chairman Andrew Higginson said: "I know that I speak for the whole company when I say how profoundly sad we were to hear of Sir Ken's death. He was an inspirational leader and the driving force behind Morrisons for over half a century. Although he retired several years ago, his legacy is evident every day and in every aspect of our business.

"Taking Morrisons from a small Bradford-based family business to a major UK grocery retailing chain is an outstanding achievement in the history of UK business. On a personal level, Ken was an enormous help to me as we made some significant changes to set the business on a new course; his knowledge of retail and his strategic insights have remained as relevant and intuitive as they were when he first built the business.”

A statement from Morrison’s family read: “Sir Ken was, of course, a unique figure in the history of grocery retailing in the UK, for more than half a century being the driving force at the heart of Morrisons as it grew from two market stalls to become one of the UK's largest retailers.

"But to us he was a greatly committed and loving family man, as inspirational and central to us in our daily lives as he was in the business. His drive and ambition, quick intelligence and encyclopaedic knowledge were matched with a real curiosity in his fellow man."