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Roger De Haan

Sir Roger Michael De Haan, CBE, DL (born 1948, Northampton) is the son of the late Sidney De Haan, who created the Saga group of companies, mostly famous for selling holidays to the over 50s market. De Haan took over Saga in 1984 when his father retired and then ran the company with his brother for a further twenty years, launching Saga-branded radio stations to accompany the group’s holidays and financial services. He choose to leave the business in 2004, selling the entire Saga Group (which included insurance and holiday businesses) to a management buyout for £1.35 billion, although he continued to run some of the radio stations himself. In that year he bought Folkestone Harbour for £11 million.He also established The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust in 1978, which offers financial support to a variety of charities and community organisations.In 2003/2004 he awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Canterbury Christ Church University.De Haan was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004 for services to business, education and charity in 2004 and was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to education and to charity in Kent and overseas. He regularly appears in the Sunday Times' 'rich list'. He closed down PrimeTime Radio and Saga Radio (Digital), his two DAB radio stations, in 2006.