Sir Richard Greenbury (31 July 1936 – 27 September 2017) was an English businessman, and chairman and chief executive of the British retailer Marks and Spencer from 1988 to 1999. During his tenure, the company continued to grow until its profits peaked in 1997 and 1998 when it was the second most profitable retailer in the world after Wal-Mart, and the ninth largest company in Britain. After resigning as executive chairman, he was succeeded by Peter Salsbury. Early life Greenbury was born in Carlisle and educated at Ealing County Grammar School in London. As a young man he claimed to have been, "The most caned boy in school", an achievement that he suggested had taught him, "The importance of discipline." Although academically able, at over six-foot Greenbury's real enthusiasm lay in playing sport, which he excelled at. He played football for his school's 1st XI, and later at county level, while playing tennis as well. However, after his mother contracted cancer, Greenbury felt obliged to leave school with only six O-levels and abandon sport; opting to start earning at the age of sixteen and missing out on a university education. Just before his seventeenth birthday, Greenbury took a modest job at Lillywhites. Marks and Spencer Greenbury's stay at Lillywhites was short lived. He later accepted a management trainee position at Marks and Spencer, who fortunately did not require A-levels for their programme. His hard work was soon recognised by Simon, Lord Marks, and he was taken under the wing of the founding father's son. Mark's dubbed Greenbury "Big Fellah", and soon moved him to head office as a trainee merchandiser and personal assistant to his son in law. It was in men's knitwear where Greenbury made his name in the early 1960s, shortly after his marriage to first wife Siân Hughes in 1959. As noted by Marks, "Rick", as he soon became known, was a retailer through and through. Spotting the trend towards casual menswear Greenbury formed a strong friendship with Harry Djanogoly, who ran the knitwear company Nottingham Manufacturing, and transformed the then unknown aisle in every Marks and Spencer store into a profits power house for the company. This reputedly got Djanogoly his knighthood and Greenbury his promotion. By 1972, Greenbury had been made the youngest director in the company's history, only twenty years after being welcomed by the business. Then, at the age of forty-one, Greenbury was