John Marks - Telegraph When it was bought by Cadbury in 1989, Trebor was Britain's largest sugar confectioner. It had been founded in 1907 by four aspiring entrepreneurs, one of whom was John Marks's grandfather, Sydney Herbert Marks. By the Second World War, the company was controlled by the Marks family, and in particular by John's father (also Sydney), who in the 1920s had introduced new compressing technology from Germany. Brands such as Trebor Mints and Refreshers first made their appearance in the 1930s. John Graham Marks was born on September 29 1930 and first learnt to boil sugar during his school holidays from Oundle; he was paid 10½d per hour. After National Service with the Royal Engineers, he read Economics and Law at Clare College, Cambridge, before joining the firm in 1953. He later became works superintendent at its Chesterfield factory, and in the early Sixties was put in charge of the newly acquired Sharps toffee factory in Maidstone. He later ran Trebor's overseas operations. By the time Marks and his brother Ian took over the firm in the 1970s, Trebor was one of the few major British businesses still in private family control. Always interested in innovation and good relations with the workforce, in 1981 John Marks oversaw the building of a factory in Colchester which had no clocking in; no charge-hands; a single, communal, entrance; and a restaurant shared by management and workers alike. By the 1980s Trebor was producing more than half the mints sold in Britain. But in 1989, facing global competitors with far deeper pockets, the Marks family decided that Cadbury, a British company with similar ethical values, was the best home for Trebor and its workforce. Trebor employees past and present benefited from the sale, the family sharing out among them one sixth of the £120 million they received from the deal; for example, a shop-floor worker with five years" service received 50 per cent of his annual pay. Many mortgages were paid off. Marks devoted himself to philanthropy and to his passion for Bugattis - he was adamant that these vintage cars were a perfect marriage of beauty and function. For five decades he competed at the Prescott Speed Hill Climb in Gloucestershire, mostly in Bugattis. He served as president of the Bugatti Owners" Club and was a pillar of the Bugatti Trust. He toured his Type 55 in America and throughout mainland Europe. Meanwhile, his Christian faith was expressed in a number of charitable initiatives. In 1991, with Lisl Klein, he helped to establish the Bayswater Institute, an independent research body continuing the work of Harold Bridger (of the Tavistock Institute) to improve happiness in the workplace. He also, with Michael Schluter, helped set up Credit Action to provide advice on personal debt. In the early 1990s Marks started a long and fruitful association with the Divinity faculty at Cambridge University, helping to fund a new faculty building and to endow the Regius Professorship of Divinity at Cambridge as a permanent chair in Christian Theology. He was also involved in creating the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme (CIP), to promote harmony between Jews, Christians and Muslims . A less successful venture was the Foundation for Church Leadership, aimed at improving governance within the Church of England - Marks was disappointed that the Church did not respond more vigorously to his call for modernisation. Marks also supported a number of charities near his home at Old Harlow, Essex, including a local hospice and his parish church. He was appointed OBE in 2012. John Marks married, in 1957, Morwenna Simpson, who survives him with four sons. John Marks, born September 29 1930, died October 31 2012