Baron Stanley Kalms dies at 93

Baron Stanley Kalms, a businessman, community leader and former member of the Conservative party, has died at the age of 93.

Born Harold Stanley Kalms in 1931, he was a member of the Western Marble Arch Synagogue and an active figure in the Anglo-Jewish community during the 1990s, writing a renowned report on the future of the United Synagogue, entitled A Time for Change. With research funded by the Stanley Kalms Foundation, a philanthropic organisation created by Kalms to encourage Orthodox Jewish education, the report recommended broad and influential reforms to the organisational structure of the United Synagogue.

Kalms began working for his father's company Dixons, later Currys PLC, from 1948, helping to develop the brand from a single photography studio into a major retail chain that sold electronic equipment, TVs, stereos, computers and appliances. In 1971, Kalms became chairman and life president of the group, which also owns the electronic retailers Currys and PCWorld.

Baron Stanley Kalms died at 93 on 30 March, 2025. (Photo: Chris McAndrew/Parliament UK)[Missing Credit]

Kalms was director of the Centre for Policy Studies from 1991 to 2001 and a member of the advisory board of United Against Nuclear Iran, a US-based nonprofit. In 1996 Kalms was knighted for his services to the electronics industry, and in 2004, he was made a life peer as Baron Kalms of Edgware.