John Sunley, who died on February 14 aged 74, was chairman of the charitable foundation founded by his father Bernard, and head of his family’s hugely successful businesses in the construction industry.
The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation was established in 1960 with a pledge of £300,000-worth of shares and to date has made grants of more than £92 million to a very wide range of charities.
John Sunley became its chairman in 1989, and was passionate about the Foundation’s ability to help improve quality of life for the young, the elderly and the disadvantaged.
A host of charitable projects across the country carry the “Sunley” name, perhaps the most notable being the Sunley Room at the National Gallery. Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, the YMCA, the Scouts and Sea Cadets, and Variety Club Sunshine Coaches were among other beneficiaries — as were hundreds of village halls, reflecting John Sunley’s belief in the importance of local community life.
John Bernard Sunley — known as “Sunshine” to his friends — was born on May 31 1936 and educated at Harrow before taking a Business degree at Columbia University in the United States. He served with the Royal Marines, then trained in accountancy and chartered surveying.
In 1960 he joined the boards of Blackwood Hodge and the Bernard Sunley Investment Trust (BSIT), the two public companies his father had built up since starting out in the 1920s as a landscape contractor — and making his name by re-laying the Arsenal FC pitch at Highbury. Bernard diversified into opencast coal mining and airfield construction, building more than 100 bomber and fighter aerodromes during the Second World War.
Blackwood Hodge became the world’s largest distributor of earth-moving equipment, while the BSIT subsidiary Bernard Sunley & Sons was responsible for landmark buildings such as Manchester’s Piccadilly Plaza, the first Gatwick Airport terminal, and the Royal Thames Yacht Club.
In the 1970s John spearheaded the group’s move into the Middle East, winning contracts for hospitals, police stations, banks and apartment complexes throughout the Gulf. In 1979, the year he became chairman of Sunley Holdings, the Queen opened the Sunley-built Dubai World Trade Centre.
Later, John Sunley’s attention focused on development projects in the United States. He never really retired, continuing to manage the family property, farming and venture capital interests as well as giving his time and wisdom to a wide range of charities.
He was a considerable sportsman — a talented cricketer and rugby player in his youth, a wily tennis player and a competitive golfer at Royal St Georges, Royal Cinque Ports, Sunningdale, the Berkshire, and the Royal & Ancient. He was particularly proud to be life president of the Construction Industry Golfing Society, and was a life member of MCC and Kent CCC .
Sunley was also a Cresta runner, a member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club and — usually sporting a Panama or broad brimmed flat cap — a popular figure on the Turf, rarely missing a Monday evening meeting at Windsor. The greyhound world also enjoyed his patronage, Sunley Express finishing third in the Derby in 1986.
He managed to combine his charitable and sporting interests at the Lord’s Taverners and The Saints & Sinners Club. A gregarious man who never took himself too seriously, his generosity was as well known as his excellent sense of humour.
John Sunley was a countryman at heart. His Godmersham Park Estate, with its fine shoot and first-class stud, was testimony to his love of conservation and wildlife. He was Master of the Pytchley Hunt in the early 1990s, and High Sheriff of Kent in 1999.
John Sunley was thrice married. With his first wife, Patricia Taylor, he had three sons and a daughter. With his third wife, Fiona Bateman, whom he married in 1992, he had a son and a daughter. He is survived by his wife and his six children.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8399093/John-Sunley.html
In the 1970s John spearheaded the group’s move into the Middle East, winning contracts for hospitals, police stations, banks and apartment complexes throughout the Gulf. In 1979, the year he became chairman of Sunley Holdings, the Queen opened the Sunley-built Dubai World Trade Centre.
Later, John Sunley’s attention focused on development projects in the United States. He never really retired, continuing to manage the family property, farming and venture capital interests as well as giving his time and wisdom to a wide range of charities.
He was a considerable sportsman — a talented cricketer and rugby player in his youth, a wily tennis player and a competitive golfer at Royal St Georges, Royal Cinque Ports, Sunningdale, the Berkshire, and the Royal & Ancient. He was particularly proud to be life president of the Construction Industry Golfing Society, and was a life member of MCC and Kent CCC .
Sunley was also a Cresta runner, a member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club and — usually sporting a Panama or broad brimmed flat cap — a popular figure on the Turf, rarely missing a Monday evening meeting at Windsor. The greyhound world also enjoyed his patronage, Sunley Express finishing third in the Derby in 1986.
He managed to combine his charitable and sporting interests at the Lord’s Taverners and The Saints & Sinners Club. A gregarious man who never took himself too seriously, his generosity was as well known as his excellent sense of humour.
John Sunley was a countryman at heart. His Godmersham Park Estate, with its fine shoot and first-class stud, was testimony to his love of conservation and wildlife. He was Master of the Pytchley Hunt in the early 1990s, and High Sheriff of Kent in 1999.
John Sunley was thrice married. With his first wife, Patricia Taylor, he had three sons and a daughter. With his third wife, Fiona Bateman, whom he married in 1992, he had a son and a daughter. He is survived by his wife and his six children.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8399093/John-Sunley.html
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