Sir David Berriman, financier who pioneered satellite television and spoke up for loss-hit Lloyd's Names

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15-04-2025

Sir David Berriman, who has died aged 96, was a merchant banker who played a role in the creation of Sky Television, chaired a large component of the NHS and became a doughty spokesman for loss-stricken Lloyd's Names.
A creative financier with industrial experience, Berriman made his name in the City as a director of the merchant bank Morgan Grenfell and was later managing director of Guinness Mahon. For both firms one of his specialisms was film finance: he sat on a number of trade bodies in that sector and through those connections became a pioneer of the satellite television industry.
In the late 1970s, Thames Television had embarked with the electronics manufacturer EMI and other partners on the creation of a pan-European satellite channel to emulate the early US ventures of the media tycoon Ted Turner. The film producer and EMI director Lord Brabourne asked Berriman to become the principal banker to the consortium, and Satellite Television came into being in 1981 with Berriman as chairman.
But the company faced continuing financial challenges as it launched its first service in continental Europe and in 1983 its board of directors were fiercely divided in response to an offer from Rupert Murdoch to inject capital for a controlling two-thirds interest. An alternative bidder emerged, but Berriman gave his backing to Murdoch's proposal – which prevailed. The venture evolved into Sky Television, of which Berriman remained a director until its four-channel UK launch in 1989.
In 1985 he had also become a Name at Lloyd's – a member of the City insurance market with u​nlimited liability. When Names' losses mounted in the early 1990, he was enraged by the widespread malpractices revealed; having led two action groups which sought to sue errant underwriters, he served from 1994 to 1998 as ​chairman of the Association of Lloyd's Names in what he called 'a battle for the soul of Lloyd's' which eventually led to a £3 billion settlement. One historian of the scandal wrote that 'had there been military awards for those involved… Sir David Berriman would have deserved the George Cross.'
David Berriman was born on May 20 1928 to Algernon Berriman and his wife Kathleen, née Sutcliffe; Algernon was an automotive engineer who became chief executive of the Daimler company in Coventry.
Brought up in Kenilworth and Oxford, David was educated at Winchester. After National Service with the Royal Corps of Signals in Egypt, he read economics and political science at New College, Oxford, and began his banking career with First National City Bank of New York (now Citibank) in 1952, serving in an international inspection team.
From there he moved to Ford Motor Co and later to the appliance manufacturer AEI Hotpoint. He also studied at Harvard business school and went on to work for a leasing business that was acquired in 1964 by Morgan Grenfell. He joined Guinness Mahon in 1973 and served on its board until 1987.
He was also a non-executive director of Cable & Wireless, Britannia Building Society and other companies, and sat on numerous public committees. In 1981 he was one of the first businesspeople to be headhunted into senior NHS management, first as chair of the Lewisham and North Southwark district health authority which included Guys Hospital – and from 1984 to 1990 as chair of the North East Thames regional authority which deployed some 10 per cent of the entire NHS budget.
An important strand of Berriman's life beyond the boardroom was his commitment alongside Kenneth Newton Wright as founding trustees of McIntyre, a charity providing accommodation and support for children with learning disabilities; both Berriman and Newton Wright had sons born with Down's Syndrome.
Morgan Grenfell financed the first McIntyre home for eight children at Westoning in Bedfordshire and Berriman chaired the charity from 1977 to 1992; it now cares for some 1,400 young people and adults, including his son James. His elder son John als​o chaired McIntyre for 20 years.
David Berriman was knighted in 1990 for his work in the health service. Having played tennis for Oxford University, he was later a member of the All England Club at Wimbledon and was also an accomplished golfer.
He married first, in 1955, Margaret Owen (dissolved 1970); secondly, in 1971, Shirley Hicks, née Wright, who died in 1993; thirdly, in 1995, Patricia Salter, née Walker, who died in 2013; and fourthly, in 2014, Caryl Ann Ayscough, née Spinks, who survives him with the two sons of the first marriage.
David Berriman, born May 20 1928, died March 13 2025
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