Peter Denis Hill-Wood (25 February 1936 – 28 December 2018) was a British businessman and a chairman of Arsenal Football Club.
Biography
Hill-Wood was born in Kensington, London, son of Denis Hill-Wood and his wife Mary Smith. His father, three uncles and grandfather all played first-class cricket for Derbyshire County Cricket Club.
Peter Hill-Wood attended Ludgrove School[1] and Eton College, where he was a classmate of former Arsenal director Sir Roger Gibbs. He then served in the Coldstream Guards. After leaving the Guards, Hill-Wood entered the banking industry, eventually rising to become a vice-chairman of Hambros Bank, having previously been in charge of its investment division.
After Hill-Wood retired from his post at Hambros, he was a director of Cavenham Ltd and Hellenic and General Trust.
Arsenal chairmanship
He was the third generation of his family to serve as chairman of Arsenal, following his father, Denis Hill-Wood (in office 1962–1982), and his grandfather, Samuel Hill-Wood (1929–1936 and 1946–1949) from Glossop, Derbyshire. Peter Hill-Wood succeeded his father after the latter's death in 1982. He was not in charge of any day-to-day business at the club, which was generally run by David Dein and a succession of first team managers.
Hill-Wood was a colleague of Chips Keswick – a former Bank of England director[2][3] – at Hambros and subsequently saw him recruited to the Arsenal board to provide strong City of London contacts at a time when the club were financing their new stadium.[4]
Hill-Wood sold much of his family holdings in the club to former vice-chairman David Dein in the 1980s and 1990s and the rest to Stan Kroenke.
On 14 June 2013 Hill-Wood stepped down and was replaced as chairman by Keswick.[3]
Other
- He played first-class cricket for the Free Foresters Cricket Club in 1960.[5]
- He and Chips Keswick were both members of Business for Sterling.[6]
Personal life
He married Sally Andrews in 1971 and had three children.[7]
Health
On 2 December 2012, Arsenal announced Hill-Wood had suffered a heart attack and was recovering in hospital.[8][9] On 28 December 2018, it was reported that Hill-Wood had died, aged 82.[10]
References
- ↑ Barber, Richard (2004). The Story of Ludgrove. Oxford: Guidon Publishing. p. 261. ISBN 0-9543617-2-5.
- ↑ "Chips Keswick joins Investec board". Financial News. 13 March 2000. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- 1 2 "Sir Chips Keswick appointed chairman". Arsenal F.C. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ↑ Arsenal.com Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "First-Class Matches played by Peter Hill-Wood". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ↑ "Who We Are". Business For Sterling. Archived from the original on 7 July 2004. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ↑ WEDDINGS; Sarah Hill-Wood, Timothy Dana - New York Times
- ↑ "Peter Hill-Wood taken ill". Arsenal.com. 2 December 2012. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012.
- ↑ "Peter Hill-Wood: Arsenal chairman suffers heart attack". BBC Sport. 2 December 2012.
- ↑ "Peter Hill-Wood: Arsenal's former chairman has died at the age of 82". BBC News. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.