It’s Britain’s most benevolent boss!
He leaves share of £13MILLION to loyal staff in will
A BUILDING firm boss has left former workers a £13million Christmas present in his will.
Rae Grieve passed on his fortune to 13 ex-staff, friends and relatives through a trust, after building up the fortune through a string of businesses. He never married or had children.
Mr Grieve, 83, founded lundin Homes in 2009 and was also famed for his prize-winning Aberdeen Angus herd at his farm in lundin links, Fife.
The son of a chauffeur, born in the mining village of east Wemyss, Fife, he was worth £13,283,181 when he died in April of a heart condition.
His recently published will shows that among his beneficiaries are farm worker Andrew Shaw, 54 – given a job after being made redundant – and stockman Alastair Cormack.
Others include lundin Homes directors Alan and Tom Spence; the company’s sales manager Moira Birrell; his doctor and accountant; and his cousin Margaret Black and her children.
Mr Shaw said: ‘Rae was an absolute gentleman, the salt of the earth. I had done contracting work for him but after I was made redundant a few years ago he gave me a full-time job. That was typical of him, he would never see anybody stuck.
‘I am not surprised to hear he has been so generous. He was always handing out cheques or taking people from the area out for lunch, especially at Christmas time. A little while before he died he said to me, “don’t worry, I’ll not forget any of you”.’
Mr Shaw added: ‘He never had a family of his own but he was very successful and won a lot of awards for his Aberdeen Angus herd. He was always driving his Range Rover and smoking a big cigar. He is missed by everyone.’
Mr Grieve’s wealth included his £5million farm and more than £4.5million in the bank.
He also had a luxury car collection of three Bentleys, a Ferrari and a Range Rover which had a combined value of £418,000.
Mr Grieve attended Buckhaven High School then studied agriculture in edinburgh.
After ten years working for housebuilder George Wimpey, he moved out on his own and in 1978 he bought a small company known as london and Clydeside Holdings.
He helped expand its turnover of £500,000 to £20million in a few years.
In 2009 he started trading as lundin Homes and built it up to become one of Scotland’s premier housebuilders.
‘A gentleman and salt of the earth’