Friends and industry colleagues of Simon Chamberlain have expressed their sadness and shock after his sudden death last week. They have hailed his leadership and dry sense of humour, while noting his commitment to his family and business.

Mr Chamberlain, chief executive of Succession Group, died last week aged 51. He leaves behind his wife Helen and children Charlotte, Henry and Olivia. He was a founding partner of St James Place and led the adviser firm Succession. He founded Succession in 2009, which has grown to 350 Financial Planners. He was also the founder of the Thinc Group (now Bluefin).

Anthony Carty, group Financial Planning & business development director at Clifton Asset Management, told Financial Planning Today he was stunned to hear of his death.

He said: “It was such shocking and sad news to learn that Simon passed away on Friday. I had got to know Simon quite well over the last few years and his commitment to his family and business were self-evident. Simon created a business model with Succession which provided an exit strategy for other firms as well as a sound home for the clients of those firms. It's so sad that Simon will not see the fruit of his own labours in terms of his own exit strategy from Succession. I sincerely hope that the payday he was hoping for arrives soon to secure his family's future. That would be a fine but bittersweet legacy. He will be much missed.”

Mr Chamberlain was also a former development director for Zurich in the UK, moving 5,000 individual advisers into a structured business practice model. He held various non-executive board positions, and was an adviser to Plymouth University Business School and a TISA board member.

Peter Smith, director at TISA, said: “Really sad news to hear of Simon’s passing. He was a valued contributor to a number of TISA’s councils and project groups. He always said it like it was and was very insightful on distribution matters. He often viewed things from a customers perspective with intelligent insight and reasoned thinking. I had many conversations with him where his perspectives were usually on the money. He also could be fun with a dry wit on matters outside of financial services. He is a big loss to the advisory community. Our thoughts at TISA are with the people at Succession, and his wife Helen and children Charlotte, Henry and Olivia.”

Zahid Bilgrami, CEO at Defaqto, said: “I was so sorry to hear about the sudden and unexpected loss of Simon Chamberlain. Simon had an advisory role some years ago with Defaqto and I know he will be missed by everyone who knew him or had dealings with him. My thoughts are with the family, friends and work colleagues of Simon at this sad time.”

Richard Freeman, chief distribution officer of Old Mutual Wealth, also expressed his shock.

He said: “He was a good innovator, a good man and a good leader. Hopefully Succession has its own succession strategy in place, I think a leader of his stature will be difficult to replace but hopefully the business will succeed.

“We had many rows over the years but we always had great respect for one another and that is the nature of it. He had a strong point of view and that’s what you need.”

Succession announced yesterday that its non-executive chairman Ray Pierce is to take over as executive chairman.

Mr Pierce joined Plymouth-Based Succession as chairman in November 2009 and has extensive financial services' experience, in both executive and non-executive roles.

Mr Pierce said: “Succession’s plans, strategies, and vision remain unchanged. Thanks to the strong foundations that Simon built, Succession is exceptionally well-equipped for the future. We have a proven market leading model, a strong management and operational team; our financial results are excellent, and we have the wholehearted and unconditional support of our investors, Inflexion.”