David Tang dies at 63:

David Tang, the flamboyant and outspoken socialite and entrepreneur who founded the Shanghai Tang fashion brand, has died. He was 63.

The Financial Times newspaper, for which he wrote a popular tongue-in-cheek advice column, reported Tang’s death in a story Wednesday. Tang had fought a long battle with cancer and died Tuesday night at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London with his wife Lucy at his bedside, the newspaper said.

“David Tang was a remarkable man of many talents whose charm, erudition and wit were ever present,” the article quoted the newspaper’s editor, Lionel Barber, as saying. “He will be sorely missed.”

The Hong Kong-born, British-educated Tang was a businessman who operated private clubs and restaurants and held exclusive distribution rights to Cuban cigars in Asia. Tang was knighted in 2008 for his charitable work in both Britain and Hong Kong, the same honor his grandfather, businessman and philanthropist Tang Shiukin, also received.

He was planning to throw a farewell bash on Sept 6 at London’s luxury Dorchester hotel after learning he only had a few months left, according to Ewan Venters, chief executive of luxury department store Fortnum & Mason.

“Personally, I think the world is a little duller for the loss of David and at such a relatively young age,” Venters said.