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Rassells man dies aged 92
The gardening guru behind Rassells Garden Centre in Earls Court Road has died aged 92.
Donald Rider, who was well-known around Kensington and Chelsea, began working at the garden centre in 1935 as a 25d a week trainee plantsman.
But as he climbed the career ladder, he turned Rassells into a celebrated horticultural oasis in the heart of the capital, where celebrities, politicians and the public alike found a botanical sanctuary.
A shy man, Mr Rider could be seen until the day he died, on July 29, looking after the nursery section that reaches deep into Pembroke Square.
One colleague said: "Donald was a gentle and kind man, very understated.
"He would seek out the best plants from all over the world for his customers and they were devoted to him.
"He had many offers over the years to buy Rassells but was never interested in selling or developing it into a bigger business.
"He wanted it to remain a place of peace, quiet and leafy pleasure in the busy centre of the city - a haven where anyone could step away from the traffic for a few moment and believe they were in the heart of the country."
Celebrities from across the generations, including pop stars Brian May and Will Young, actress Diana Rigg and film director Michael Winner, who used to fill his one-acre garden in Holland Park with Rassells bulbs every spring, were regular customers.
But Mr Rider would treat those who just wanted a simple window box with equal amounts of respect to those higher profile visitors.
Donald Hubert Rider was born on January 30 1919 in Hounslow, and was the son of an accounts clerk who died of septicaemia when he was just four.
When he left school, he applied for work at the Natural History Museum, but was turned down for being too young.
Instead, he was taken on by Marjorie Rassell, and despite no horticultural experience, was kept on because of his enthusiasm.
During the Second World War, Mr Rider served in France with the Royal Fusiliers, and took over the running of the garden centre from Marjorie when he returned.
And apart from that war service, he worked all of his adult life - 76 years - at the garden centre.
He was a lifelong bachelor with no family, and lived in a modest flat above the flower shop in the lodge at the front of Rassells.
Mr Rider set up a trust fund to ensure Rassells would always remain just as he had created it, and left instructions that following a moving funeral on Friday (12), his ashes were scatted under an ancient Chinese ginkgo biloba tree on the north side of the garden.
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As a distant cousin, interesting to read his obit. Curious that neither his mother nor sister are mentioned even though they lived until the 1980s. He was an interesting fellow!
Bruce