Garry Weston

Garfield "Garry" Howard Weston, CBE (April 28, 1927 – February 15, 2002) was a Canadian-born businessman who was active 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 food conglomerate headquartered in Toronto. He was the fourth of their nine children. Weston moved to England with his family at the age of four, but he always kept his Canadian citizenship.

Career

Weston 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. He 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 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

Weston married Mary Kippenberger, 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 son Guy is chairman of Wittington Investments Limited, 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.^[2]

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
2. ↑ Matthew Beard, "Garry Weston, grocer, philanthropist and frugal billionaire, dies after long illness" in The Independent on 2002-02-16. Retrieved 2015-12-17