Former newspaper magnate Eric Moody dies at 99

Former Black Country newspaper magnate Eric Moody, who was also a leading light in the world's most famous rowing club – the Leander at Henley – has died, aged 99.

Mr Moody cut an unmistakable and imposing figure in his home town of Stourbridge, standing 6ft 3in tall and often wearing a black cape.

His family owned the County Express newspaper, based in Victoria Passage, off High Street, as well as Mark & Moody, a popular stationer's in the town, where the Mary Stevens Hospice shop is now based. Mr Moody, who never married, died at his home in Whittington Road, Norton, Stourbridge, on Thursday.

His mother, Mary Moody, became the world's oldest company chairman, still attending Mark & Moody's annual board meetings until her death in 1985, aged 104. Mr Moody was known by his second name, George, at the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames, where he competed as an athlete, and became a trustee of the National Rowing Foundation in the USA.

He first took up the sport which would become a major part of his life as an undergraduate at Oriel College, Oxford.

On the strength of their performance at Summer Eights in Oxford his crew twice competed at Henley in successive years, 1934 and 1935. Mr Moody later turned to coaching and, in 1967, was elected to the highest accolade in rowing, when he became a steward at Henley Royal Regatta.

Leander Club spokesman Dr Robert Treharne-Jones said: "His dry delivery allowed an even drier sense of humour, all adding to his image as one of the great gentlemen of the sport.

"It was his ardent wish that he should reach his 100th birthday, but sadly that wish was denied him by the narrowest of margins."

Mr Moody left Oriel College in 1935 with an honours degree in modern history.

Locally, he was for several decades a member of the Feoffees – trustees – at Oldswinford Hospital School, Stourbridge, where he was also a former chairman of governors.

Headteacher Peter Jones said: "He was a real supporter of the school and took a keen interest in what the students achieved. He also had a wonderful sense of humour."