Tributes to businessman and MD of major high street retailer Boots
A Halifax man who who was a successful businessman and a former managing director of Boots has died suddenly aged 89.
Keith Ackroyd was born on Francis Street in Halifax and grew up in Moor End Gardens in Mount Tabor, attending Heath Grammar School.
Mr Ackroyd joined Boots TheChemistsasanapprentice pharmacist at 18 in the Halifax shop in 1952, qualifying four years later.
Over the next 12 years he had a number of management posts culminating in his appointment as territorial general manager in Lancashire in 1967 –the youngest in the company’s history.
HemovedtoNottinghamin 1971 as a sales promotion manager and was appointed to the board of Boots The Chemists four years later.
During his career, he was also director of Halfords, Victoria Carpets, Silentnight, and later served as chairman of the TrentRegionalHealthAuthority after retiring from Boots in 1994 after 41 years.
He served as chairman of the British Retail Consortium and its precursor, the British Retailers Association, and was part of a group of leading national retailers who formed a high-powered council to campaign for a change in Sunday trading laws.
Mr Ackroyd also met Princess Diana and Princess Anne, and flew on Concorde.
In June 1994 he was awarded a CBE for services to the retail industry.
In his spare time, Mr Ackroydenjoyedshooting,hosting parties, playing bridge, travelling, going out for meals, and rugby – which he played as a schoolboy and his love for the sport as a spectator continued throughout his life.
He met his future wife Gwenda on his way home from school on the bus and the couple married at Mount Tabor Methodist Church in August 1958.
They were together for 65 years before Mrs Ackroyd’s death in October 2023.
They had three children Richard, Michael and Kathryn - and moved around the country eight times for work before settling in Nottingham in 1978.
During his retirement, he travelled the world with his wife and their last holiday together as a couple was taking in the sights of Scarborough, Whitby and the North York Moors.
He is survived by his children Kathryn and Michael, his sevengrandsonsandonegreatgrandson.