Wilf Proudfoot, the founder of Scarborough-based Proudfoot Group, has died aged 91.

Proudfoot invested £300 from his RAF gratuity to open a self-service supermarket in Seamer in 1946. The chain, which now has four stores, has been a member of Nisa since 1980.

He was also well-known for his exploits outside grocery. He was a Conservative MP between 1959 to 1964 and 1970 to 1974. In 1965 he set up the pirate radio station Radio 270 off the coast of Scarborough. And in the 1970s he became interested in hypnotism and hypnotherapy, establishing the Proudfoot School of Hypnosis in Scarborough and lecturing on the subject across the world.

He is survived by his wife Peggy, sons Mark and Ian who are joint MDs of Proudfoot Group, daughter Lyn and five grandchildren.

“His entrepreneurial talents, matched by determination and hard work, won him respect from many people in politics and hypnosis around the world,” his family said in a statement. “As head of our family he will be sorely missed, but he leaves behind him many happy memories and his legacy of honesty, hard work, fairness and caring.”

Nisa symbol group director John Heagney added: “We will miss Wilf’s huge broad smile, happy disposition and tremendous outlook on life. Wilf was one of the real characters of our industry, a man with enormous honesty, energy and passion for everything that he was involved in and who always saw the positive side of situations.”

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