Edwin Davies

Eddie Davies (18 June 1946 – 11 September 2018) was a British businessman and philanthropist. He served as chairman of the Strix Group from 1984 to 2006. He was the owner of Bolton Wanderers F.C. until March 2016, when Dean Holdsworth fronted a consortium to take over the club. The Eddie and Susan Davies Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are named in his honour.

Early life Eddie Davies was born on 18 June 1946 in Little Lever, near Bolton, Lancashire, England. He was educated at the Farnworth Grammar School in Farnworth, Lancashire, England.

Career Davies started his career at Avon Rubber. In October 2014, it was announced that Davies was ready to sell the club. Davies wrote-off loans to Bolton which, including interest, totalled approximately £175 million. Shortly after his death, it was revealed that, four days before he died, Davies had given Bolton £5 million to help save the club from administration.

He served on the boards of directors of Moonshift Investments, Sula Group, and Squarestone Brasil. Those five galleries include 200 paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, J. M. W. Turner, Sandro Botticelli, Tintoretto, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edgar Degas and Eugène Delacroix.

He made a charitable contribution of £100,000 to the Royal Bolton Hospital in Bolton for the establishment of a coronary care unit. He received an honorary doctorate in 2008.

Personal life He was married to Susan Davies. They had two children. They resided on the Isle of Man. He underwent coronary artery bypass surgery in 1996.