Tributes have been paid to a “visionary” Welsh business leader and retail expert who died following a long illness.

Peter O’Toole, founder and chief executive of Retail Merchandising Services, passed away at his home last week after battling with mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer, for more than a year.

Originally from Barry, Mr O’Toole started his working life delivering milk while still in school before becoming a trainee manager at his local branch of supermarket Kwik Save.

Within six years he had become the company’s youngest director and worked his way up to become head of format development, with an £80 million budget and a portfolio of 520 stores nationwide.

After 23 years at Kwik Save (which later became Somerfield), he became Development Director for Musgrave Group, Europe’s largest wholesaler, responsible for the development of 3,000 independent retailers.

Although he left school with no qualifications, Mr O’Toole gained an MBA from the University of Newport at the age of 40.

In 2005 he founded Langstone-based Retail Merchandising Services, a company dedicated to enhancing and improving the retail experience for customers across the UK. The firm’s clients include the likes of Asda, B&Q, Boots, Tesco, Morrisons and John Lewis, and it employs more than 800 staff across the UK.

In 2013 it was named the fastest growing firm in the retail and wholesale sector at the Wales Fast Growth 50 awards.

Earlier this year Mr O’Toole was named director of the year in a medium / large business at the IoD Wales Director of the Year Awards and as a result was shortlisted for SME company director of the year at the IoD Director of the Year Awards, which take place in London later this month.

“I wanted to help retailers of all sizes and sectors improve the consumer experience,” he later said.

Mr O’Toole’s eldest son Daniel, Development Director of RMS, described his father as an “extraordinary man” who was “always working and living life.”

“He was always the centre of attention; he would be able to capture the room in minutes,” he said.

“He could walk into a bar he’d never been to before and just talk to people. He would always make friends.”

Daniel’s younger brother Connah, IT administrator at RMS, said: “He loved socialising but never had a day off. He always had his work head on.”

Daniel added: “He was a straight-talking, no-nonsense type of man, but he would always get the best out of people.”

In interviews, Mr O’Toole often described retail as his “passion”, and his son Daniel said he was always looking for new opportunities to diversify and was keen to embrace the latest technology.

“He was often one step ahead of the big retailers when it came to new technology, such as mobile apps,” he said. “He didn’t always know how to work it but he always saw its potential.

“His wish was for RMS to continue to grow and develop and that’s what we will do as his legacy,” he added.

In a statement, the company said Mr O’Toole was a “visionary” and an “inspirational leader.”

“It is a testament to Peter’s vision and stewardship that RMS is currently experiencing its best trading year to date.”

Outside work, Mr O’Toole enjoyed all kinds of sport. He loved playing football in his younger days and was a huge Manchester United fan. Later in life he enjoyed playing golf, and was Captain of Llanwern Golf Club, Newport, where he lived.

Last August he married his second wife Polly in a ceremony in Cardiff followed by a second in a chateau overlooking the sea in the medieval village of Eze in the south of France.

Sadly the couple’s honeymoon to the Far East was cancelled as Mr O’Toole developed breathing difficulties on the flight home from France and was soon diagnosed with mesothelioma.

While asbestos exposure is often a cause of the condition, Mr O’Toole never worked with the substance.

Although he had sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and travelled to Leicester for major surgery, he passed away at his home on Thursday October 1^st.

He leaves his wife, two sons and step-daughter Cerise, mother Carole and brother David.

He will be laid to rest in Porthkerry alongside his younger brother Stephen and his father John.

Funeral arrangements:

11.15am Thursday 15^th October

St Curig’s Church, Porthkerry, Rhoose. CF62 3BZ

Wake to follow in Rhoose Social Club