The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Sir David Tang, 63, entrepreneur and founder of fashion chain
Prominent entrepreneur Sir David Tang, a friend of the royals and A-list celebrities, has died.
For the past few weeks, the 63-yearold founder of the Shanghai Tang fashion chain had been at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, where he died on Tuesday evening.
Speaking to the Press Association, Ewan Venters, chief executive of Fortnum & Mason, said the “world is a little duller” after Sir David’s death.
Mr Venters, 45, who had known him for a decade, said he was informed of the death by Sir David’s wife, Lady Lucy Tang.
“He was one of life’s unique people who had an extraordinary network of people from all walks of life. He was a very generous, kind-hearted, spirited individual,” Mr Venters said.
“Personally, I think the world is a little duller for the loss of David and at such a relatively young age.”
Sir David announced earlier this month that he was throwing a farewell to life party at The Dorchester in London after receiving the news he had a couple of months to live.
Mr Venters said the event was due to take place in the ballroom at the luxury Mayfair hotel on September 6, but that “sadly he didn’t quite make it”.
Recalling one of his favourite memories, Mr Venters said on visits to the hospital over the last month, he would take freshly made scotch eggs and a jar of piccalilli – one of Sir David’s favourite Fortnum & Mason treats.
“He would be a fierce critic if the scotch eggs were in any way inferior. I always lived in fear that one day our scotch eggs wouldn’t be quite up to it,” he said fondly.
Politician and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, another friend of the socialite, said he met Sir David a few years ago when they both appeared on the BBC’s Newsnight together.
Mr Farage said he was a “wonderful, colourful, larger than life character”.
“He has lived an amazing life, and all lives have to come to an end, I just wish for his sake he had made another week,” he said.
Sir David was awarded a knighthood in 2008 by the Queen for his charitable services in the UK and British interests in Hong Kong, where he was born.
He first came to the Britain 50 years ago and arrived without being able to speak a word of English, Mr Venters said.
After founding his high-end fashion chain in the mid-1990s – which he later sold – in Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore, Sir David also set up the China Clubs.
He later opened the China Tang restaurant at the Dorchester.
Sir David, who read philosophy at university and later law – and taught at Peking University in 1983 – has been described as an intellectual by those who knew him.