Long-time chairman of The John Lewis Partnership, Peter Lewis, has died

The John Lewis Partnership has announced that Peter Lewis, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership from 1972 to 1993, has passed away.

Peter Lewis, who became the partnership’s third Chairman in 1972, was the son of Oswald Lewis. Oswald was the nephew of John Spedan Lewis, the Founder of the partnership.

Under Peter’s chairmanship, the company underwent considerable change and technological development such as  trialling the first electronic cash registers at Peter Jones in 1974. He also helmed the opening of many new John Lewis stores from Edinburgh to Kingston, as well as drove sales to hit £1 billion for the first time.

Peter joined the partnership in 1959 as a management trainee and after a few months became the Manager of the Stationery department at John Lewis, Oxford Street. In 1960, he was appointed Central Buyer for Stationery.

In the years that followed, he moved to other key roles such as Assistant General Inspector, Assistant Director of Trading, Department Stores. He later stepped into the role of Director of Trading, Department Stores before being appointed Deputy Chairman in 1970 and Chairman in October 1972.

Dame Sharon White, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: "I never had the pleasure of meeting Peter personally, though I worked with his son, Patrick. Peter and I did exchange messages from time to time. As is traditional, I write to my predecessors the day before our financial results are announced to share with them the numbers. Peter quite often used to write back with an encouraging word, which I always appreciated.

"There will be Partners in the Partnership today who remember Peter as Chairman and I know he will be sorely missed by so many."