Knighted business and charity leader Sir Hugh Sykes who helped transform Sheffield dies aged 93
Sir Hugh Sykes left his mark on the city
An industrialist who played a key role in Sheffield’s revival after the closure of the steelworks has died.
Sir Hugh Sykes left his mark on the city after a long career as first a businessman and then a leader of redevelopment bodies and charitable trusts.
In 2017, he published a memoir which recounts a decisive moment in his childhood.
After the second world war, his father William, a church parson, took early retirement and money became tight.
Gone was the car, the nanny, the big house and the expected place at public school.
Instead Hugh and twin brother Richard were sent to the local grammar.
"We felt humiliated and inferior, " he wrote.
"Probably that sense of inferiority made me even more determined to succeed."
Over the following decades he built a successful business career which eventually saw him sell Thermal Scientific for £72 million in 1988.
But, speaking to The Star in 2017, he said helping to regenerate Sheffield was a greater challenge.
He chaired Sheffield Development Corporation, a Government-formed body responsible for regenerating the Lower Don Valley after its steep decline sparked by the closure of the steelworks.
The corporation attracted £683m of private investment stimulated from £108m of public funds, a road connecting the M1 at junction 34 to the city centre and offices covering thousands of square feet.
Sir Hugh spent nine years heading the corporation, from 1988 until it was abolished in 1997.
From 2000 to 2008 he was deputy chair or chair of Sheffield One, responsible for the original ‘Heart of the City’ project creating the Winter Garden, Millennium Gallery and Peace Gardens.
He was Master Cutler in 1990-91, the head of the ancient manufacturers’ guild based at the Cutlers Hall on Church Street in the city centre.
This was followed by a non-executive directorship at Yorkshire Bank, and a decade later he chaired the bank’s owner NAG Europe.
He went on to hold more than 40 directorships and chaired Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust - the Sykes Gallery in the Millennium Gallery is a nod to his and wife Ruby’s contribution.
He was also deputy lieutenant for South Yorkshire.
Some plans failed. He backed the short-lived Sheffield City Airport in Tinsley, which could not compete with Manchester or Leeds in either package holidays or the short-haul business market. “A great shame,” he concluded.
He was knighted in 1997 for his contributions to charity and Sheffield’s post-industrial revival.
Hugh Ridley Sykes was born in Bristol in 1932.
In 1957 he married Rosemary Dougan, whom he met at Cambridge. They had two sons: Peter and Jonathan. The marriage ended in 1976 and two years later he married Ruby Anderson, who had been his personal assistant at Simon Engineering. They also had two sons, Christopher and Andrew.
From 2007, they lived at Brookfield Manor in Hathersage.
He died on March 30, 2026, aged 93.
Sheffield Museums Trust posted a tribute stating: ‘Sir Hugh was the founding Chair of Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust between 1998 and 2008 and led the charity during the construction of the Millennium Gallery and the redevelopment of Weston Park Museum. His love of the arts and his drive to support Sheffield’s museums, inspired us all.
‘The Millennium Gallery’s Sykes Gallery is named in recognition of his generous and enduring commitment to the City of Sheffield and its people. He was a pleasure to work with and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with Lady Sykes and the family’.