Competitive and compassionate

As well as being a businessman's businessman, he was competitive but also compassionate and charity-minded right up to his death.

Arnold Ziff's life was a gritty, sometimes glitzy drama you could - and maybe someone should - turn into a film. A difficult but nonetheless charming and generous man, Mr Ziff made a fortune in the post-war property boom.

His takeover of Barratts paved the way for Stylo plc, one of the UK's few remaining independent retail shoe businesses.

He helped shape the redevelopment of Leeds and his company built that epitome of 1960s angular architecture, the Merrion Centre. He derived considerable satisfaction from the fact it was completed days ahead of Birmingham's attempt at gigantism, the now-gone Bull Ring.

His family was also a central plank in his life as were those he dealt with in the topsy-turvey world of business.

So who better to discuss the triumphs and contradictions of this man than his son Michael, Stylo's current boss. "He certainly wanted his own way," he said. "He could be very dogmatic. But he did it in a very nice way.

"If the voting at a board meeting didn't go his way he would defer it until the next one, by which time he would have influenced everybody that he was right.

"He was always very positive about business. When things were bad he would say, 'It's time to dig deep.' And when things were tough he was good at doing that. "But when the economy was really buoyant and prices were moving up in property he was very conservative."

Michael Ziff recalls his father showering kindness and concern on his staff, distributing boxes of chocolates, visiting the shoe shops and even telephoning a manager personally after a fire at a London branch.

"He had a larger-than-life approach," added the younger Mr Ziff. "People felt his presence when he wasn't even there. Everyone expected him to come walking into one of the shops at any time."

Arnold Ziff was also a tireless supporter of the Jewish community and his charity work began in his early years when he became a prison visitor at the age of 18.

"In later life he became fascinated by the work of the universities and he became a major backer of Leeds University and Leeds Metropolitan University. He was interested in opportunities.

"He always offered to help people. And he instilled in my brother Edward and me, from a young age, that we should get involved in charity work. My brother plays a major role in Leeds charities and I'm involved in national charities."

But there were people in his outer circle for whom he reserved particular venom - people in The City. "He didn't have a great respect for them because he considered they thought Northerners were country bumpkins in flat caps.

"They didn't get off their butts to come and see him. It's the Ken Morrison story all over again. But he had a love of the North and was a defender of the faith."

There is a lingering aftertaste of disappointment that, despite Arnold Ziff's serial achievements and his work helping others, the powers that be never deigned to reward him with anything more fitting than an OBE.

Some commentators railed that he never received a knighthood. "The feeling was that he was someone who wasn't accepted by the establishment," explained his son. "He was anti-political establishment. He thought political patronage was a load of claptrap."

Right up to his death aged 77 in July last year, Arnold Ziff never seemed to lose his love of business and zest for life.

Yet mixed in to his complex personality was a pragmatic humour.

Although a stakeholder in synagogues, Mr Ziff was also closely plugged in to the CofE and was on the board of Leeds Parish Church.

One of his best friends was the Bishop of Stepney, who inquired one day why he had a foot in both camps.

"I like to bet both ways," he replied.

l Arnold Ziff: The Making of a Great Yorkshireman, left, by Nigel Watson is published by Valentine Mitchell. T&A readers can buy it at £15 (a saving of £4.50) by calling 0208 952 9526 and quoting reference BAA 12.