One of the masterminds behind the rebuild of a computer that hastened the end of World War II, and who saved Bletchley Park – Britain’s war-time codebreaking centre – for the nation, has died.

Tony Sale, 80, was a founder of the Bletchley Park Trust and instrumental in the successful rebuild of Colossus – the world’s first operational computer and a vital part of the war effort from 1944 onwards.

Mr Sale­, described as remarkable by his colleagues and peers, recognised the importance of saving Bletchley Park at a time when its historic relevance was not fully understood. He died after a short illness leaving his wife Margaret, three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Simon Greenish, director of the Bletchley Park Trust, paid tribute to Mr Sale, saying: “Tony’s contribution to the early days of the development of the trust when the site was under very real threat ... was fundamental, and without him the Bletchley Park site and its hugely important history would perhaps not have survived.

“His work on rebuilding Colossus was an enormous challenge and took many years to complete.”

As a teenager Mr Sale was educated at Dulwich College in London.

From an early age he showed a remarkable aptitude for engineering and electronics and produced his first robot, George I, from Meccano.

Finances prevented him attending university, so he entered the Royal Air Force instead.

He went on to join Marconi’s Research Laboratories in 1952 and five years later joined MI5 where he became principal scientific officer.

From the 1960s to the 1980s his fascination with electronics and computers grew and he established several innovative software companies.

His interest in computer restoration work blossomed in the late 1980s while working at the Science Museum.

In 1989, he helped to set up the Computer Conservation Society as a joint venture between the British Computer Society and the Science Museum.

In 1991, with his wife and a small group of colleagues, Mr Sale began the campaign to save Bletchley Park for the nation.

During the war the original Colossus computers were designed and built to decipher the German high command’s encrypted messages.

The successful decryption of these was credited with shortening the war by many months and saving thousands of lives.

Working with small fragments of information, Mr Sale and his team successfully rebuilt a functioning Colossus.

The event was celebrated in 2007 with the Colossus Cipher Challenge and the official opening of the National Museum of Computing.

Today, the rebuilt Colossus is a centrepiece of the museum.

Andy Clark, chairman of TNMOC trustees, said: “The rebuilding of a functioning Colossus Mk II, Tony’s homage to the war-time codebreakers of the Lorenz cipher at Bletchley Park, is such a remarkable piece of work that it will forever be the model of excellence to which the museum aspires.”