The head of British erotica retailer Ann Summers, Jacqueline Gold, is dead. The businesswoman, also known as "British Beate Uhse", died at the age of 62 as a result of her breast cancer, her family said.

"She was (...) an activist for women in business and advocated for women entrepreneurs with the aim of improving the working environment for women," the BBC said in the statement.

Gold had introduced the chain, which mainly sells lingerie and sex toys, to parties based on the Tupperware model in the early 1980s and made it much more women-friendly. With the resulting sales increases, Gold established the company in the public eye and expanded the branch network enormously. Ann Summers currently has 88 locations across the UK and Ireland.

Her father David Gold, founder of the parent company Gold Group International and co-owner of the London football club West Ham United, died just two months ago.

BBC report