Tom Blumenau campaigned for tolerance and social justice, bringing his skills in business management to support and develop influential organisations in the field of individual rights.

Born in 1927 to a Jewish family in Cologne, Blumenau was to witness in early childhood the mounting intolerance that led to the Holocaust. It bred in him a passion for human rights and respect for others.

By 1937 the family had left Germany to settle in London, where Blumenau was enrolled at St Paul’s school as his father strove to re-establish the clothing company, founded by his own father in 1887. Initially based in Islington and as a supplier of underwear to the women in Britain’s armed forces, the shadow of the Blitz forced relocation to Shropshire in 1941.

Tom joined the company, Silhouette, on leaving school and shortly afterwards was sent to the United States to study the latest developments in marketing and merchandising. In postwar Britain, as austerity became a memory and women sought out style and glamour once more, the company’s innovations in foundationwear and subsequently swimwear found ready acceptance.

The factory in Shrewsbury had been joined by others at Market Drayton, Whitchurch, Wem and the new town of Telford and at the peak had more than 3,500 workers. “It was a very happy place and the working conditions were excellent,” says an employee of the time. Blumenau’s flair for marketing and persuasive advertising gave the company steady growth and in due time he became managing director and chairman of what had become a substantial business.

In March 1959 it became a public company, quoted on the London Stock Exchange. Although the company had long since passed into new ownership, he was delighted recently to be asked as guest of honour to a theatrical production at the Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, charting the relationship the company had with the town where its largest factory was once sited.

While working and travelling widely for Silhouette, Blumenau found time to engage his concerns for the wider community, as well as to pursue his deep love of music. He joined the Philharmonia Chorus, rehearsing and performing with it and the Philharmonia Orchestra abroad and in the United Kingdom. Opera was of utmost importance, and with a lifetime of seeing fine performances he was well placed to assess any failings in what he heard.

With a like-minded cohort, many of whom had seen the effects of intolerance at first hand, he and his wife Eva were among the founding membership of Amnesty International. His active involvement, including the establishment in 1965 of the St John’s Wood branch, where he lived, continued for the rest of his life. David Benedictus, present chairperson of the branch, said that the St John’s Wood Group might not have survived if Blumenau had not taken over its organisation. One of the most significant achievements was to ensure that the group has never had to suffer the indignity of a lack of funds.

The Prisoner of Conscience Fund was set up as the relief arm of Amnesty International and initially operated from Blumenau’s home, where he was its first director. The cause itself mattered enormously to him, and this communicated to donors to give generously the funds for which there was so much need, particularly at the time for relief during the Bosnian conflict. It was for this work, in 2002, that he was appointed OBE for services in the field of human rights.

The present director, Lynn Carter, recalls: “Tom never seemed happier than when there was a houseful of people gainfully employed in fund business or when we were sitting in his lush garden discussing human rights issues. There are literally thousands of people whose lives have been improved due to his efforts. They, and we, owe him a huge debt of thanks.”

Blumenau’s political inclinations always leant towards fair elections and democratic expression. As the fledgling Social Democratic Party came into being, he was there both as a founder member and an active constituency supporter. He maintained this support, latterly for the Liberal Democrats. Political process fascinated him. He read widely in political biography and only recently bought a very large screen new television better to enjoy the BBC Parliament Channel.

When the full-time commitment to Silhouette ceased in 1979, he took on a post as a magistrate on the Westminster Bench, a role in which he continued for 15 years. He always felt, as one who abhorred injustice, that the exercise of justice was a special test for him. Although he was not quiescent on the business front his involvement moved towards a more advisory role. He became a director of Kennedy Brookes, which brought together restaurant groups, including Wheelers Fish restaurants and Mario and Franco’s Italian restaurants, before it was itself absorbed by Trust House Forte. However, greater engagement came with seeking out small and entrepreneurial businesses where his experience and wisdom — often plus a little seed capital — would make a difference.

This involvement with the new and the young was emblematic of Blumenau’s enthusiasm for the changes that made his life interesting and fresh. It is no coincidence that he was an active user of Facebook and Twitter. Young people, often from the organisations he supported, were frequent guests in his home and he was always at least as interested in their views and lives as they were in his. In later years he was a consistent student at the University of the Third Age in Hampstead, as well, unsurprisingly, as a member of its executive committee. Asked this summer what course he proposed to take this autumn, he replied “history”. “But you did history last year,” his questioner responded. “Yes,” said Blumenau, “but it might have changed”.

He is survived by Eva, his wife, two sons, and a daughter.

Tom Blumenau, OBE, businessman and human rights campaigner, was born on September 6, 1927. He died on September 5, 2009, aged 81