Former Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Middleton, described by The Times as one of Britain’s most colourful businessmen, has died of cancer aged 74.
He spent five years as a monk, became a fitness fanatic who ran marathons and nearly competed in the 1968 Olympics, but drank, chain-smoked, rode motorcycles, had two wives, six children and slept only four hours a night, according to The Times obituary.
Seen as a management fixer, he was responsible for transforming the neglected and underperforming travel company, a Midland Bank subsidiary in the 1980s, into a success story.
Cook was sold for a £200 million profit five years later and acted as a springboard for Middleton to land the role of head of Lloyd’s of London.
Middleton was chief executive of Cook from 1987, chief executive of Lloyd’s of London between 1992 and 1995 and chief executive of Salomon Brothers International between 1995 and 1998.
A Management Today profile in 1996 revealed how the ex-monk had no great respect for British business’s more traditional ways.
A friend remembered Middleton’s first day as head of Cook, when he was apparently appalled to find three dining facilities in operation for different levels of staff.
He went to the workers’ canteen, got a tray of pie and chips and sat next to the postroom staff. When they refused to believe he was their new boss, partly because, in his trademark V-neck jumper and slacks, he didn’t look like a boss, he took them back to his office for coffee.
Former Cook retail director Nigel Hards was quoted as saying Middleton had the workers’ hearts and minds as “a great orator to the masses” who was “as comfortable talking to government officials as he was to mail boys”.
Middelton returned to Cook and retired from the board as a non-executive director in 2012 following the departure of former chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa the previous year after a number of profit warnings.
Middleton was chairman of a number of small listed and private companies in a range of industries since 2000.
He had a brief spell as chairman of the Football League and became chief executive of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the sport’s governing body.