A MEMORIAL service is to be held following the death of Sidney De Haan, the founder and former chairman of Kent-based Saga Holidays. He was 83.

Arrangements are being made for a family funeral and for a memorial service to take place at the Saga Pavilion at Sandgate.

Sidney De Haan realised there was a market for providing holidays for retired people and set up Saga Holidays in 1951. This later developed into the Saga Group, which is recognised as one of Britain's best known and fastest growing private companies.

The businessman started out as a Folkestone hotelier. He realised that older people could help fill his hotel during the off peak holiday season. In the sixties and seventies he expanded his holiday brochures to include resorts throughout the UK and Europe, and Saga now arranges holidays in 65 countries worldwide. Taken together with its financial services, insurance and publishing businesses the company now counts 2 million over 50s as its customers.

Sidney De Haan was awarded the OBE for services to tourism in 1985. Paul Bach, editor of the Saga Magazine, Mr Bach said: "I worked with Sidney from 1979 when I joined Saga, until he retired in 1984. He was an inspirational man.

"He was a good and decent man all his life and people who worked with him had enormous affection for him. He founded a huge empire, but there was never any grandeur about him. He always remained true and loyal to his East End roots. He was an innovative thinker and a brilliant man."

Mr De Haan moved to Somerset with his wife Margery following his retirement. After she died in 1994, he returned to Folkestone. He had become frail in recent times.

He is succeeded by his three sons, David, Peter and the current chairman of the Saga Group, Roger.