Clive Whittall, a leading player in the fruit and vegetable business in Covent Garden in the 1980s and 1990s, has died in Miami, Florida at the age of 76.
Born into the famous Whittall trading family in Turkey in the late 1930s, Whittall led a colourful life.
He was educated in the UK at King's School Canterbury and undertook National Service in the British Army, which found him in Greece and Cyprus in the late 1950s operating under cover and using his language skills speaking Greek, Turkish, French and English. He subsequently joined an international bank, working for a number of years in east Africa.
When he finally returned to London he worked in the City for a time, but became attracted to the fruit and vegetable business, perhaps as a result of his family’s original business in Turkey.
He worked first for Cyprus Fruits and then Fyffes in Mayfair, before joining a Dutch trader in the then New Covent Garden.
Whittall rapidly became respected by the traders on the market and gained a reputation for always selling to his customers at fair prices while giving the best prices to the growers.
In the mid 1980s he was headhunted by a small firm, Robert Steveney and Co, run by the then well known Larry Fowler.
After a year or two Fowler wanted to retire, so he handed the company over to the then highly successful Whittall, who rapidly expanded the business, focusing upon avocados from South Africa, seedless grapes from Namibia and asparagus from Australia.
Around 1995, having built a substantial business from quite small beginnings 10 years earlier, Whittall decided to retire so the business was sold, and when saying goodbye to the porters in Covent Garden many were heard to say “there goes the last gentleman in the fruit trade”.
Whittall then moved abroad with his new wife, Flora, and went into property in Australia, Croatia and Costa Rica, which is where he was taken ill earlier this year.
He leaves behind Flora and two sons, Damien and Mark, from a former marriage, and his sister June.
