James Blair Sherwood (August 8, 1933 – May 18, 2020) was an American-born, British-based businessman, and the founder of Belmond Limited and Sea Containers.
[2] He grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and earned a degree in economics from Yale University.
In 1965, Sherwood founded Bermuda-based, New York Stock Exchange listed, London-headquartered shipping company Sea Containers with initial capital of $100,000.
[4] Over forty years Sherwood expanded Sea Containers from a supplier of leased cargo containers, into various shipping companies, as well as expanding the company into luxury hotels and railway trains, including the Venice-Simplon Orient Express[5] and Great North Eastern Railway that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise.
[6] Although valued with a net worth of £60million in the 2004 Sunday Times Rich List,[7] as Sea Containers hit financial troubles, he resigned as Co-Chief Executive Officer from each of his companies in 2006.