Ted Lansdowne, md of Green DIY in Sussex and former md of Payless DIY, died on Friday November 19 after multiple heart attacks. He was 67.
While working for the building products group Marley in the early 1980s, Mr Lansdowne persuaded the Marley management that the Marley Homecare name wasn't working - a decision that resulted in the first Payless store opening in Ramsgate in 1982. By 1989, Payless was the UK's third largest diy chain, with sales of £230m, and had taken over lesser rivals like Madeleys and AG Stanley.

He was also instrumental in creating Woodies, which is now Ireland's only national diy chain. Marley's Irish subsidiary had some redundant Chadwicks builder merchants branches which he was tasked with converting into diy stores. The first two had re-opened under the Payless facia when Marley sold its entire retail operation to Ward White, and when Boots bought Ward White one of its first acts (and as it turned out, a profoundly misguided one) was to get rid of all the senior people who knew anything about diy retailing.

Disenchanted with multiple diy retailing, Mr Lansdowne teamed up with his long-time colleague Doug Spickernell to set up a new independent business, and Green DIY opened its doors at Uckfield, east Sussex, in 1991. As the name implies, the business was an early adopter of environmental issues, and introduced policies like not giving away carrier bags long before they became widely used.

While Green DIY was getting under way, Mr Lansdowne was asked back to Ireland to sort out the Payless business there, and opening Green DIY turned out to be a part-time job, as he travelled back and forth to the republic, running both businesses in rotation. The Irish had already decided to drop the Payless name in favour of Woodies, and it was to disappear in the UK as well, victim of a succession of mergers and takeovers which eventually saw all the Payless and Do It All stores swallowed up by Focus.

Uckfield was chosen as Green DIY's location because it matched Mr Lansdowne's model perfectly: a prosperous town which was too small to attract the major national operators. It was an inspired choice: 19 years later, there still isn't a B&Q, Homebase, Wickes or Focus within 10 miles.

Interviewed a month ago by DIY Week's sister magazine Hardware & Garden Review, Mr Lansdowne had no regrets about striking out on his own. "The city had no empathy with the business - it was all just figures," he said. "Shareholder value was king, and nobody cared about anything else. No way was I going to be involved in that again. And the city is still like that - all the big boys are still focused on the share price, the p/e ratio, the dividend. They aren't being run as retailers."

He is survived by his wife Deena and son Clayton. Funeral arrangements have not yet been confirmed, but will be posted on diyweek.net as soon as possible.