Jacqueline Gold, the long-serving chief executive of Ann Summers who played a role in the sexual liberation of both British women and the British high street, has died at 62.

Gold became CEO of the lingerie and sex toy chain in 1987 and transformed the brand into a multimillion-pound retail empire, becoming one of the most prominent female entrepreneurs in the UK in the 1990s.

Gold died after a seven year battle with breast cancer, her family announced on social media on Friday.

She joined Ann Summers, which was part of her father David Gold’s business empire, in 1981. David Gold, who was also co-chairman of football team West Ham United, himself died only in January.

Gold took the company, which at the time consisted of four tucked away shops, and turned it into the first major chain of sex products in the UK with stores on the average high street.

She was noted for using a direct sales model based on Tupperware parties, where products were sold to small groups of women within their homes, to attract a wider range of customers and move the sector away from its traditionally seedy image.

As a result Gold became one of the country’s most famous female executives, overseeing the company’s international expansion to Ireland and Spain as well as their online strategy.

“In life she was a trailblazer, a visionary, and the most incredible woman,” her family said, adding that she had “courageously battled stage 4 breast cancer for 7 years and was an absolute warrior throughout her cancer journey”.

However the company has struggled in recent years against nimbler rivals like Lovehoney which operate online. Its most recent results showed annual sales of £164mn in the year to March 2021, compared to £93mn for Ann Summers in the year to 26 June 2022.

In December 2020 Ann Summers launched an insolvency process, known as a company voluntary agreement, in order to lower rents as the company reeled from Covid restrictions keeping its stores shut.

It has 81 stores in the UK and three in Ireland, according to its most recent filings, down from a total of 140 stores in 2005.