Jack Brignall

Dr Brignall was a business partner of the late Lord Hanson but was perhaps best known for setting up the Hull-based property developers the Wykeland Group.

He was also widely involved in community work and a string of good causes and was one of those who helped to set up the ocean discovery centre The Deep in Hull.

Born in Beverley in 1927, he left school at 15, having inherited a passion for hard work from his father, an entrepreneurial businessman.

His business career began when he founded Commercial Motors in 1954, selling trucks such as Leyland, Albion, Scammell, Dodge and Foden. In the same year he married Beryl, with whom he would spend the rest of his life.

He managed a merger with Oswald Tillotson in 1964, which made it the largest commercial vehicle organisation in the UK and was a business partner of the late Lord Hanson when he founded the firm which eventually became the Anglo-American conglomerate, the Hanson Trust.

As founder of the Wykeland Property Group, he played a pivotal role since 1969. The company grew significantly and has been responsible for a number of flagship developments including Kingston Retail Park in Hull, The Parishes shopping Centre in Scunthorpe, Willerby Shopping Park in Willerby, the ongoing Melton West Business Park, Europarc in Grimsby and the Flemingate regeneration scheme in Beverley.

Dr Brignall was a driving force behind Wykeham and in recent years he played a key part in the management restructuring, which included the appointment of longstanding director Dominic Gibbons as managing director last year.

Towards the end of his life Dr Brignall won many deserved accolades for his work in business and in the community. Last year he was awarded an honorary degree from Hull University for the part he played in improving the economic and social well being of the region.

He was also involved in the Daisy Appeal for medical research and teaching in East Yorkshire and was on the board of The Deep, as well as the education foundations at Hull City and Hull Kingston Rovers, these interests meaning he was awarded an MBE.

Dr Brignall remained a quiet man who preferred to remain out of the limelight. Wykeland provided countless opportunities for its workers and people living locally and changed the landscape of the East Riding, the place Dr Brignall loved. His legacy will be seen there for many decades to come.

He leaves behind his wife Beryl, daughters Jane, Sarah and Catherine, his younger sister Margaret Stephenson and eight grandchildren.