Former Bank of England governor Leigh-Pemberton dies

LONDON (Reuters) - Former Bank of England governor Robin Leigh-Pemberton, who was in charge of the central bank during the Black Wednesday sterling crisis more than 20 years ago, has died aged 86, the BoE said on Monday.

Leigh-Pemberton was governor of the Bank from 1983 to 1993. He previously served as chairman of National Westminster Bank and of several industrial companies.

After sterling was forced out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, Leigh-Pemberton argued in favour of BoE independence from the government, something the central bank was granted five years later.

As well as the sterling crisis, Leigh-Pemberton had to deal with the discovery of fraud at the Bank of Credit and Commerce International which was under the BoE's supervision.

In 1991 he invited Mervyn King to join the BoE as its chief economist. King went on to serve as governor between 2003 and earlier this year.

"A tall, imposing and cheerful man, Robin had a talent for inspiring and persuading others to work for him," King said. "A born captain, he will be remembered with deep affection by the members of his team."

(Reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Toby Chopra)