Name Noel Lister | Organizations founded MFI Group | |
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Noel Lister (26 December 1927 – 29 January 2015) was the founder of MFI Group which became one of the United Kingdom's largest retail chains, and also the founder of UKSA (formerly the UK Sailing Academy), a youth education and maritime training charity based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Career
Noel Lister initially went into business trading in war surplus goods which he purchased at auction.
He co-founded MFI Group in 1964 and, through effective marketing, expanded it into one of the largest retail chains in the United Kingdom. He sold the last 8% that he still held in the business to Asda in 1985 for £60m.
He was a keen sailor - he was a contender for the Admiral's Cup in Imp - and in 1987 secured the future of the UK Sailing Academy at Cowes by acquiring it from the Sports Council and transferring it, and a donation of £4 million, into a Trust Fund. At the time he owned the yacht, Whirlwind IX, and his vision was to provide maritime training for good quality people so that they could work on large yachts.
He twice circumnavigated the world and has been on numerous overland expeditions.
In 2002 he suffered a stroke and was in hospital for three months.
In later life Lister lived in the Bahamas. He died on 29 January 2015.