Robert Bellinger

Sir Robert Ian Bellinger, GBE DSc (1910-2002) was Lord Mayor of London in 1966.

Born in Gloucestershire his family moved to London. After his father's death he started work at the age of 14 as an office boy. He studied accountancy at evening classes allowing him to join the wholesale grocers Kinloch. He rose through the ranks to become chairman in 1946 which he held until retirement in 1975. He joined the Broderer’s Company in 1946, and was elected onto the Court of Common Council seven years later. An Alderman in 1958 he became Sheriff of the City of London in 1962 and finally Lord Mayor (and with it, the "ex officio" title of Chancellor of City University) in 1966.

He also a governor of the BBC, and chaired the Panel for Civil ServiceManpower Review. From 1969 to 1985 he served as Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod in the Order of the British Empire, and in 1970 he became chairman of the National Savings Committee.

He enjoyed sport and was a keen sportsman, playing for Ealing Football Club in his youth, and was president of several Buckinghamshire sports clubs. He was also a long time director of Arsenal Football Club from 1960 until 1996. [ [http://www.4thegame.com/club/afc/news/12640/ARSENAL+SHAREHOLDERS+OFFER+A+PIECE+OF+THEIR+MIND.html Arsenal Shareholders Offer a Piece of their Mind] ] On his retirement as a director of Arsenal he was appointed Life President, a title he held until his death in 2002.

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