Born London, April 28, 1923.
Died London, May 9, 2008, aged 85.
Known as the king of coats, Frank Russell created the Mansfield fashion label, whose suits were worn by prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
Born in the East End, the oldest of four children of immigrant parents from Minsk, Frank Nakovitch, as he then was, won a scholarship to Parmiters Grammar School in Bethnal Green.
The family surname of Rakovitch was accidentally registered as Nakovitch on arrival in England. Frank changed it to Russell in 1937, when he left school at 14, for a fee of 11 shillings (55p).
Frank and his cousin were sent for barmitzvah lessons to Harley Street Synagogue, off Bow Road, though they usually slipped off to music hall at the Hackney Empire. He played sport at Brady Boys Club in Whitechapel, which he joined at 13, and went on his first holiday with them to the Isle of Wight.
His ambition was always to follow his father, a tailor. The family lived above his workshop in Roman Road, near the headquarters of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists. Frank kept watch during the weekly “Blackshirt” meetings in case they threw burning rags into the shop.
He loved the workshop, helping out during school holidays with chores, such as taking coats to the buttonhole maker. He took evening classes in English, shorthand, typing, business administration and pattern cutting.
The £25 pattern-cutting course was the only time he asked his parents for money. Through his teacher he found jobs in cloth cutting and garment packing in other firms and workshops, to broaden his experience. He also served at the well-known Houndsditch Warehouse to gain retail experience.
At 16 he landed the job of assistant pattern cutter with a respected fashion company, becoming chief pattern cutter by the time he was called up to the army three years later in 1942. After a miserable start in Scotland, he was sent overseas to North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and Italy.
His ship, the Strathallen, was struck by an enemy torpedo off North Africa. An old salt told him not to panic, as the ship would take at least six hours to sink, but to go and have a drink in the officers’ quarters.
They were indeed rescued by another Allied boat that drew alongside, but 48 men still lost their lives. In another close shave, Frank stood on a landmine which failed to go off in the rain-soaked ground.
After participating in the fierce battle of Monte Cassino in 1945, which saw the Nazis turned back in southern Europe, he ended the war in Austria, where he helped round up and question Nazis hiding among civilians.
His commanding officer transferred him to an intelligence unit where he was given a useful crash course in German, Italian and French.
Demobilised in 1946, he returned to his old job but had to leave to help his father out of financial difficulties. With £500 between them they reopened the family workshop, making up clothes for bigger manufacturers.
To supplement his weekly £8 income, Frank became a freelance designer and pattern cutter, which he also taught in the evenings. A few weeks later his father put him in sole charge. The business flourished and with the profits he bought his parents a house in Finchley, North London.
Very soon, S Russell & Son was manufacturing its own ranges and selling to high street chains such as C & A and Lewis’s. He went to the fabric suppliers of houses such as Chanel and Dior, and bought Paris patterns, which were available to foreign manufacturers.
With a growing reputation, the company was renamed Mansfield in the late 1950s. The British-sounding name was borne by Frank’s brother-in-law.
The company boomed in the 1960s and 70s, winning a first year’s Queen’s Award to Industry in 1966 and again in 1968. It was a major exporter, attracting queues of buyers to its West End showroom in Margaret Street.
A separates label, Cache-Dor, was launched in the mid-1970s. In the 1980s the company sponsored a design award at the London College of Fashion.
Frank Russell helped set up and chaired the British Fashion Industry Export Council, as he felt British companies were unfairly treated at overseas showings.
He retired in 1993 aged 70, but continued as a consultant. The business ceased trading in the mid-1990s, with the rise of casual dress and cheap East European labour, but went out with the flourish of a high-class range.
Proud of his Jewish roots, he was a patron of Jewish Care until his death and supported other Jewish charities, especially the Community Security Trust.
A charismatic character with a lust for life and great sense of humour, he was married and divorced four times.
He is survived by the two sons and daughter of his first marriage to Daphne in 1956, and seven grandchildren.