Mystery as trucking magnate Eddie Stobart left surprising sum to wife after his death at 95
HAULAGE firm colossus Eddie Stobart left just £4,471 to wife Nora after his death at 95.
It is a mystery why the trucking magnate, whose name was on thousands of green and red lorries, had so little when he died in November.
It was his son Edward who built the business.
The dad, who retired to Carlisle, once said: “I never aimed to devote my life to work. I’m laid-back compared to Edward.
“I used to think to myself, what’s the point of all his worry and rush We are here to serve God, not Mammon.”
“Board meetings consisted of me sitting in an armchair at home while Edward was ringing me from somewhere on the M6 telling me what he was doing.”
Eddie Stobart was said to have told people he would never have set up a business under his own name if he had known how big and famous it would become.
He was a deeply religious man, who let his son Edward build the business to a point where it operated more than 2,000 lorries, all of which were given individual names.
The company built up a reputation for well-maintained, high-quality vehicles, with uniformed drivers, and benefited from the huge rise in road haulage.
Eddie himself was said to have been content running a modest business distributing fertiliser, doing contract work for local farmers, running a farm shop and wheeling and dealing at local agricultural auctions.
But he was said to be saddened when his son sold the business in 2004 and the subsequent financial struggles of the firm.
Edward died bankrupt at the age of 56 of a suspected heart attack in 2011.