Ronald Hobson

Sir Ronald Frank Hobson, KCVO (4 January 1921 – 22 April 2017) was a British entrepreneur, business-owner and philanthropist.

Hobson was born on 4 January 1921 in Edmonton, London, to a poor family. He served in the Army during the Second World War and, after being demobilised, noticed the potential for bombed-out plots of land in central London to be used as car parks.

In October 1948, charging customers 1s 6d a day. At the time, car traffic was low in London, and NCP eventually acquired the company.

In 1998, Hobson and Gosling sold NCP (which had over 650 car parks by that time) to Cendant for £801 million; they had owned a 72.5% share of the business. The pair were philanthropists, donating £25 million towards the restoration of HMS Victory. They paid for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's birthday celebrations in 2000, and Hobson had been among a group of businessmen who financially supported Harold Wilson as opposition leader in the 1970s. He turned down a knighthood in the "Lavender List" in 1976, but accepted appointment as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order thirty years later.

Hobson died on 22 April 2017.