Garry Weston

Garry Weston
Born Garfield Howard Weston
August 28, 1927
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died February 15, 2002
Occupation Businessman
Spouse(s) Mary (Kippenberger) Weston
Children George G. Weston
Guy Weston
Garth Weston
Kate Hobhouse
Sophia Mason
Parent(s) W. Garfield Weston,
Reta (Howard) Weston
Relatives Howard Kippenberger (father-in-law)

Garfield "Garry" Howard Weston, CBE (April 28, 1927 – February 15, 2002) was a Canadian-born businessman in the United Kingdom.

Early life

Born in Toronto, Ontario, he was the son of Reta (née Howard) and W. Garfield Weston, owner of the George Weston Limited conglomerate headquartered in Toronto: fourth of their nine children. Garry moved to England with his family at the age of 4 but always kept his Canadian citizenship.

Career

He became managing director of Ryvita, and at the age of 22 he invented the Wagon Wheels biscuit which carried the family name. He left Ryvita in 1952 and co-founded the Weston Biscuit Company in Australia. He returned to the UK to manage Associated British Foods (ABF) which his father had established in 1935 and he had served on its Board of Directors from 1949, taking over as company chairman in 1967. He remained on the board until 2000.

He served as head of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation and was a benefactor of numerous philanthropic projects. For instance, in 1999, he directed a 20 million pound donation to the British Museum from the Garfield Weston Foundation, set up in 1958 with money from his parents, siblings and himself.[1]

Personal life

He married Mary, daughter of Major-General Sir Howard Kippenberger and they had six children together: Guy, Jana, Kate, George, Sophia and Garth. His son George is chief executive of ABF and Guy Weston is chairman of Wittington Investments, Ltd., ABF's major shareholder. His other children are Jana Khayat, Kate Hobhouse, Sophia Mason and Garth Weston.

Death

He suffered a stroke in 1999 and died in 2002.

Notes

  1. Kate Watson-Smyth, "Modest Wagon Wheel magnate gives pounds 20m to British Museum" in The Independent on 1999-05-19. Retrieved 2009-05-17