THE death earlier this week of Leon Melchior (88), founder of Zangersheide Studbook, marked the passing of an extraordinary man who has left a huge legacy to the international sport horse world.

He died on Wednesday evening at his home in Belgium and will be buried in Lanaken next Tuesday.

He began the studbook in 1992, bringing a scientific approach to the traditional occupation of horse breeding. Today, many top-level competition horses around the world carry the “Z” suffix.

Born in The Netherlands on Christmas Day in 1926, Melchior was a lifelong entrepreneur, founding no less than 53 companies.

An enterprise that began as a jumping stables in the 1970s was transformed into a breeding farm that eventually became the Zangersheide Stud. Attention to detail and objective assessment of results were key to the success of the Zangersheide venture. He always surrounded himself with experts that could deliver his vision, leading to the consistent production of classically bred, top-class equine athletes with the trademark Z for the Zangersheide Studbook.

Trained by Johan Heins during his international jumping career, Leon Melchior competed on many Nations Cup teams for The Netherlands. He also organised the Belgian CSIO at Zangersheide for a number of years, as well as hosting the first FEI Nations Cup final in 1991.

Johan Heins, who was based at Zangersheide for many years, always said that Leon Melchior’s greatest achievement was improving the quality of horses competing in the sport of jumping through his legendary breeding programme.

One of the best known horses bred by Leon Melchior was the mare Ratina Z, who Piet Raijmakers(The Neherlands) rode to individual gold at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992.

A successful building contractor and property developer, Melchior was also honorary president of premier football club MVV. Melchior was made an Officer in the Order of Leopold, a Belgian national honorary order of knighthood and the highest in the country. He also received the Maastricht medal of merit, and was a freeman of the town of Lanaken.

A tribute from the Zangersheide Stud said: “The business world remembers him as a dynamic and successful entrepreneur.

“For the world of the sport horse, he was an example and a pioneer. His stud farm Zangersheide in Lanaken and breeding sport horses were his biggest passion, which he enjoyed until the very last moment.”