Former Greenwoods chief executive dies aged 92

Denis and Marjorie Greenwood, when he received his CBE.

Denis Greenwood, who was formerly chairman and chief executive of Greenwoods Menswear, died peacefully in a Harrogate nursing home on Sunday.

He started at the company in 1946 and over subsequent decades it grew to boast around 300 shops throughout the UK, before he started to gradually retire around 25 years ago.

He was made a CBE in 1991 as a reward for his services to the Conservative Party. He had been chairman of the Yorkshire Industrialists Council, which raised substantial sums for the Tories.

For many years he was a director and later chairman of the Leeds Cricket Football and Athletic Company at Headingley.

And as chairman of what is now Leeds Rhinos, he led the rugby league team on to the Wembley pitch for the 1994 Challenge Cup Final against Wigan.

Mr Greenwood’s brother and former colleague Brian, 90, of Harrogate, said: “He was a much respected businessman. His word was indeed his bond.”

He was born in 1925 and excelled at sport as a boy at Woodhouse Grove School in Apperley Bridge. He later joined the Royal Air Force, serving as a physical training instructor during the latter days of the Second World War and afterwards. In 1947 he married Marjorie Bussey. They enjoyed 69 years of marriage, living for most of this time at Woodlands Grange in Rawdon, Leeds. Mrs Greenwood died last year.

Their three daughters, Diane Hanson, Denise Steinberger and Melissa France jointly have seven children and nine grandchildren.