Terence Cole, our Co-Founder and Joint CEO of MARCOL, sadly passed away on Monday 19 December 2022, after a long illness.


Terence was a larger-than-life character who has left his mark on the world and touched many lives.

He was tenacious, a great strategic thinker, and a ‘people person’ through and through. A force to be reckoned with; one that brought a sharp intellect, and light and colour into every interaction. A conceptual and creative powerhouse, he was always moving forward, unlocking opportunities and seeing the world from a different, global perspective. Terence had the ability to see things differently and to imagine how things could be.

Terence co-founded MARCOL over 47 years ago with Mark Steinberg. In 1976 they bought their first property together for £10,000, working from Terence’s dining room table. From humble beginnings, they have grown the business, weathered numerous recessions, pioneered their way through with much blood, sweat and tears, while always working together. Their determination has created and evolved the business MARCOL is today, an operating investor with a number of pan-European portfolio companies employing many hundreds of hardworking and dedicated people.

With sights set firmly on the future; Terence’s greatest wish was the continued growth of MARCOL, the team and business he had always been so passionate about and spent so much of his life creating in partnership with Mark.

A culture of giving back was also fundamental to Terence’s life and work. The Cole family will continue as patrons and benefactors to many of the charities that Terence supported.

As an inspirational leader and mentor his extraordinary approach has had a meaningful impact. Terence will truly be missed by so many whose lives he influenced in different ways, as a man of real generosity of spirit, depth of character, and insatiable love for life. He leaves an incredible legacy.

He is survived by his family: his beloved wife Niki and children Alex and Natasha.

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