Sir Ken Morrison, the man who took his father’s small grocery chain and turned it into one of the UK's biggest retailers, has died aged 85.
The business started by his father on a market stall in Bradford in 1899 grew to become Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket chain and a FTSE 100 company.
The supermarket tycoon joined the family firm after he finished National Service in 1952 and just four years later became chairman and managing director, stepping down from the latter role in 1997.
He died peacefully at home in North Yorkshire, his family said in a statement.
"Sir Ken was, of course, a unique figure in the history of grocery retailing in the UK," the family said.
For more than half a century Sir Ken was "the driving force at the heart of Morrisons as it grew from two market stalls," they said.
'Great retailer, great character'
Malcolm Walker, the chief executive of rival supermarket Iceland, was among those to pay tribute.
"He was the nicest and kindest man I've ever met. He was very trustworthy, and a handshake was always good enough with Ken," Mr Walker told the Press Association.
Co-op Group chairman Allan Leighton said: "Sad news on the passing of Sir Ken Morrison. He was a great retailer, a great character and a great inspiration."
The company floated on the stock market in 1967 and went on to deliver year after year of unbroken profits growth, expanding at such a rate that by the end of 1999, it had 100 supermarkets.
The entrepreneur was worth £1.05bn by 2013.
Andrew Higginson, the current chairman of Morrisons, said: "Taking Morrisons from a small Bradford-based family business to a major UK grocery retailing chain is an outstanding achievement in the history of UK business.
"On a personal level, Ken was an enormous help to me as we made some significant changes to set the business on a new course; his knowledge of retail and his strategic insights have remained as relevant and intuitive as they were when he first built the business."
Sir Ken received his CBE in 1990 and was knighted in the 2000 new year's honours list for services to the food retailing industry.
