Lifelong estate agent John Wilkinson has passed away aged 88.

Wilkinson, founder of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire agency The Wilkinson Partnership, spent six decades in agency and is credited with the expansion of the Connells brand.

His son, Simon Wilkinson, a senior partner at The Wilkinson Partnership, said his dad was “one of the great men of modern estate agency,”

After two years national service in the Kings African Rifles fighting the Mau Mau campaign in Kenya, he returned to the UK and joined Larry Connell in 1952 at the Leighton Buzzard office of Connells.

Simon said his dad “worked tirelessly, showing a natural gift for selling and ‘doing the deal.’”

John helped trailblaze and expand initiatives such as auction, survey, commercial, country land and new homes departments as Connells grew during the 1960s and 1970s when he became the majority shareholder and senior partner.

He sold his shares in 1977 to start his own 12-office strong agency business under his own name that was sold to Prudential Property Services a decade later.

John and Simon then setup The Wilkinson Partnership in 1992 and has gone on to win several estate agent of the year awards.

Simon said: “Known for a fierce temper, yet forgiveness and acceptance he lived and breathed ‘dealing’, loving the chess game of negotiation and closing the deal.

“He told wonderful stories of deals done, he was inspired to listen to new and younger staff about deals in hand, market appraisals and net reservations.

“In many respects a larger than life character, he was never afraid of a David versus Goliath battle, at times lobbying leading figures and friends in the national media, Government, housing and agency sectors to provoke change.

“Even at the end of his life he was still speaking to staff and asking them their figures, recent market appraisals – often commenting that he had sold that property 50 years ago, even remembering names and amounts.

“He earned millions and spent millions, living life to the full, horse racing, hunting, family and a legendary social life.

“A man of great charisma, passion, determination and perseverance, whose intellect and thirst for knowledge never left him.”