Everton chairman Bill Kenwright passes away aged 78

Everton chairman Bill Kenwright CBE has passed away aged 78, the club have confirmed.

Kenwright spent 19 seasons at the Everton chairman, having grown up as a Toffees fans, and previously owned the club as part of the True Blue consortium.

A club statement on Kenwright's passing reads: "Everton Football Club is in mourning following the death of Chairman Bill Kenwright CBE, who passed away peacefully last night aged 78, surrounded by his family and loved ones.

"Everton’s longest serving chairman for more than a century, Bill Kenwright led the Club through a period of unprecedented change in English football.

"A lifelong Evertonian, he became a board member on October 23, 1989, and then on Boxing Day 1999 his True Blue Holdings consortium acquired the Club. Initially vice-chairman, he succeeded his close friend Sir Philip Carter as Chair in 2004.

"In his 19 seasons as Chairman, the Club secured 12 top eight finishes, including a top four finish in 2005, a run to the 2009 FA Cup final and European qualification on 6 separate occasions.

The club has lost a chairman, a leader, a friend, and an inspiration. The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Everton are with his partner Jenny Seagrove, his daughter Lucy Kenwright, grandchildren and everybody who knew and loved him."

The Liverpool-born Kenwright made his fortune as a hugely successful theatre producer, notably achieving huge success on the West End with Blood Brothers and also a record-breaking tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Kenwright used his fortune to purchase a majority stake in Everton for £20m in 1999, before selling 68% of the club he owned to Farhad Moshiri in 2016 - a stake Moshiri has now sold to American investment fund 777 Partners.

Kenwright stayed on as chairman after selling some of his stake, overseeing the club's proposed move to a new stadium on the Liverpool docklands.

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