Sir Colin Southgate (24 July 1938 – 26 July 2021) was an English businessman. He served as chief executive of Thorn EMI and chairman of the Royal Opera House.
Early life
Colin Grieve Southgate was born in New Malden, Surrey on 24 July 1938. He was the only child of Cyril, a fruit merchant in the old Covent Garden market, and Edith. Upon the outbreak of World War II, Edith took Southgate and his elder sister Jean to Northampton. After the war he attended primary school in Kingston upon Thames, and his family relocated to Epsom when he was a teenager. He won a place at the public City of London School, making the journey there by train.
Career
Southgate trained as an actuary at National Provident Institution, in a period he later described as the worst two and a half years of his life. He left for the computer industry on the advice of a friend, and worked at International Computers and Tabulators customising company software packages. He stayed at the company for ten years.
In 1970 Southgate and his father-in-law founded Software Sciences, which they sold to BOC and Thorn EMI. Southgate joined the latter as head of business and security systems in 1983, after taking an 18-month break. In 1984 he joined its board. He was appointed chief executive of Thorn EMI in 1987 and became its chairman two years later. He served on the Bank of England's Court of Directors, was a trustee of the National Gallery, and chaired PowerGen.
