Construction industry figure and supporter of the homeless, Tony Denison, has died aged 89.
Denison founded the charity CRASH in 1991 to channel support from the property and construction industry towards helping homelessness projects.
The charity provides temporary shelter to the homeless and has helped thousands across the UK since its inception.
It was one of the charities supported by The Story of Christmas Appeal last year.
Denison’s idea was to persuade the owners of vacant office buildings to loan them to homelessness charities to become emergency cold-weather shelters.
CRASH would then use the resources of contractors and manufacturers to decorate the buildings for their temporary use.
Denison stepped down as a CRASH trustee in 2002 but during his retirement he continued his charitable work with a homelessness charity close to his home in the South Downs near Chichester.
A keen supporter of research into the causes of homelessness, he kept in touch with developments within the sector and in regular contact with the CRASH office.
CRASH chief executive Francesca Roberts said: “We owe Tony a great debt. He was absolutely ahead of his time in pioneering what is now referred to as the Big Society concept.
“He saw precisely how an industry could be brought together to share the very thing it is best at in order to help vulnerable people.
“Tony was always focussed and inspiring, but so modest about the unique charity he had created and all it has achieved.”
Patrick Anthony (Tony) Denison died on 10 April, 2012.
nathan.cross@estatesgazette.com
