At 73 years of age, the creator of the Stanley Leisure Group chain has passed away. Lord Steinberg started a small, unlicensed betting shop in the back of a run down milk shop in Belfast many years ago, and eventually grew it into an empire. Steinberg, who was born in Belfast to a family of immigrants, was not unaccustomed to tragedy and friction. As his success grew so did the attention that was put on him. Steinberg was shot five times while he was in his forties as part of a push from the IRA to eliminate economic targets.
Doing what he could to avoid further injury, Steinberg moved to Manchester to work on the growth of his betting shops and gaming casinos and expanded his reach as far as Birmingham. The next step was to tackle the stock exchange in 1986, which ultimately led to the sale of the company to a couple of different casino investment companies.
Steinberg was not only big in the gaming business but he also liked to put a lot of his time into Jewish and even non-Jewish causes. He was a leader in groups such as the Manchester Jewish Federation and did much good handling at least one thousand hardship cases at a given time. He not only donated a lot of his time but also much of his wealth. He made numerous party contributions and even became the deputy treasurer of the conservative party in 1999. Steinberg died in London in early November but his memory will live on forever in the hearts of the many that he touched over his 73 years of life.
