Over many decades, the larger-than-life character amassed a huge collection of memorabilia that defined popular culture and key events from the 19th and 20th century.
He owned items which once belonged to legendary figures including Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Sir Winston Churchill.
But he will perhaps be best remembered for his collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia – the largest of its kind anywhere in the world – which he auctioned last year.
The sale, which included the black beaded and sequinned dress worn by the actress in Some Like it Hot, fetched £1.5 million.
But as well as his huge catalogue of collectables, Mr Gainsborough Roberts, who was in his 70s, will equally be remembered for his flamboyant attire, namely his hats, trademark colourful jackets and bright ties.
Paying tribute to the collector, Geoffrey Coppock, president of the Jersey Film Society, said: ‘If the saying “life and soul of the party” applied to anyone, it applied to David.’
Mr Gainsborough Roberts was a patron of the society for more than 20 years. He would select a film every year and illustrate it with items from his collections. When the society showed the Billy Wilder classic comedy Some Like It Hot, the sequinned dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the closing scenes was modelled by Fiona Walker.
And when his chosen film was the modern western Tombstone, about Wyatt Earp and his brothers and the famous shoot-out at the O.K. Corral, his collection of guns used by the Earps was on display.
‘He always took an interest and he was just what you would want a patron to be,’ said Mr Coppock.
Deputy Murray Norton, the former owner of Murray’s, where Mr Gainsborough Roberts would often visit, described the collector as a ‘larger than life’ and ‘colourful’ character.
‘He was very generous and interesting. He was a great storyteller. He was a man who got much joy out of seeing the pleasure on other people’s faces.
‘David was a fashion icon of the 1960s and was known as the “Canary” in London because he always wore yellow suits and he had these yellow leather shoes. He was known by so many of London’s top models in the 1960s,’ he said.
‘David had such an interesting background and was a big wrestling promoter. He made wrestlers like Big Daddy household names.
