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Obituaries

John Harvey-Jones | British business leader, 85

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Businessman Sir John Harvey-Jones, 85, who shared his passion for business with millions through the British Broadcasting Corp. television series

Troubleshooter

, has died Thursday after a long illness, the BBC said, without details.

The former chairman of Imperial Chemicals Industries P.L.C., Mr. Harvey-Jones became Britain's best known industrialist during the late 1990s thanks to the television program in which he advised struggling businesses.

In an interview in 1996, he attacked the rising trend on television of aggressive managers, such as the star of the British version of

The Apprentice

, Sir Alan Sugar, along with Gordon Ramsay and Simon Cowell. He insisted that the ethos behind his shows was always one of constructive guidance.

Mr. Harvey-Jones led ICI from 1982 to 1987, when he transformed the loss-making firm into the first British company to post more than 1 billion pounds in annual profits in 1984. That's nearly $2 billion at today's exchange rates.

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