THE granddaughter of the founder of York and Helmsley's Browns department stores has died, aged 87.

Peggy Goldie, née Brown, was the granddaughter of Henry Rhodes Brown, the founder of Browns department store and the last surviving daughter of William Percy Brown.

Peggy was the second cousin of the current managing director, Nicholas Brown, and remained a "sleeping" director throughout her life, maintaining a keen interest in the family business.

As a young girl, Peggy lived above the shop in Davygate, York, with her parents, William Percy and Annie, and her sister, Mary, and had fond memories of watching the fair in St Sampson's Square from her window.

She went on to marry Jack Stabler, managing director of York firm Sheppee Engineering, and had three children, Paul, Julia and Robert, as well as seven grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Later in life, Peggy married John Goldie, who died a few years ago.

Mrs Goldie's granddaughter, Angela Stabler, is the store's personnel director and one of the directors at Browns alongside other family members descended from H R Brown.

She said: "It's the end of an era, but the legacy goes on. The fact that Browns is the thriving business it is today, and that we are privileged to be part of it, is all down to the generations before us and what they achieved."

Originally called Rhodes Brown after its founder, the shop first opened as a draper's in 1886.

It became WP Brown in 1919 when his son, William, took over, remaining so for decades before it became revamped as Browns in the 1980s.

The store remains a flourishing business, with a multi-million pound annual turnover.

Mrs Goldie's son and Angela's father, Paul Stabler, the firm's former operations director, said: "My mother was always very fond of knowing what was happening within the business. She never gave up the interest, because it was her father's business and he had taken full control of it at the age of 28.

"She was always proud that I'd represented her side of the family in the business and when my daughter went in she was over the moon."

Mrs Goldie's funeral will take at York Cemetery on Monday, at 1pm. She will be buried alongside her father, mother and sister, Julia, who died in infancy.