Shaftesbury founder Peter Levy dies

Shaftesbury said its founder and former chairman Peter Levy had died after a short illness.

Levy launched the London West End property group in 1986 with initial capital of £10m and listed it on the London Stock Exchange the following year. He chaired the FTSE 250 company until he retired in 2004 when Shaftesbury was valued at more than £350m.

Shaftesbury said Levy was well known and respected in the UK's real estate industry, particularly as a partner in DE & J Levy, the West End estate agency started by his father and uncle in the 1930s.

Levy, who was born in 1939, built Shaftesbury's success on redeveloping Covent Garden into a major retail centre and tourist attraction. Shaftesbury, now valued at £2bn, also revived Carnaby Street, turning it into a modern shopping and leisure venue.

After an initial purchase of property in Chinatown, Levy expanded outside London but stripped Shaftesbury back to deal solely with West End property after the crash of the early 1990s. The group capitalised on London's emergence as a global city and financial hub from the late 1980s onwards.

Shaftesbury Chief Executive Brian Bickell said: "Shaftesbury's reputation, culture and values owe much to Peter's foresight and commitment in the formative years of the business. He will be greatly missed not only by his family but all those who were fortunate to know him and work alongside him."

Levy had a wide range of charitable interests and was awarded an OBE for his fundraising for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.