The All England Club has paid tribute to former chairman John Curry CBE, who passed away on Saturday.

Curry joined the club’s committee in 1979 and served as the chairman from 1989 to 1999.

The AELTC says he will be remembered for “taking the Club forward whilst maintaining everything that is special about the Club and The Championships.”

As a young player, Curry reached the quarter-final in singles and semi-finals in both doubles events at the the Junior Championships of Great Britain held at the All England Club – now known as the junior Wimbledon tournament.

He captained the tennis team at Oxford while studying philosophy, politics and economics and St. Edmund Hall College, and was later awarded an MBA with high distinction at Harvard.

Curry became a full member of the All England Club in 1971 and joined the committee eight years later. In 1989, he succeeded Buzzer Hadingham as chairman and held the role for a decade.

During his tenure, Curry was involved in developing the “Long Term Plan” which was unveiled in 1993. It saw the opening of the No.1 Court in 1997 and the No.2 Court in 2009.

In 1989, he played an “instrumental” role in the club’s purchase of the Raynes Park site, which has become their Community Tennis Centre. This year it was used as a training hub for the professional players ahead of The Championships.

Curry’s decisions continue to benefit the AELTC. He was also in the role when the club bought the Wimbledon Park Golf Course freehold from the London Borough of Merton and when they purchased the freehold to the Southlands College site, which became the croquet lawns.

The All England Club also said Curry was “proud” of the fact that the Championships Surplus rose from £300,000 to more than £30 million from the time he joined the committee to the time he stood down as chairman 20 years later.

Curry was made a CBE in the 1997 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, two years before he retired as chairman of the All England Club.

He is survived by his wife Anne, three sons and a daughter.