Garfield Howard "Garry" Weston

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(April 28, 1927 – February 15, 2002) was a Canadian businessman who was active in the United Kingdom.

Early life

Born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, he was the son of Reta (née Howard) and W. Garfield Weston, owner of the

George Weston Limited George Weston Limited, often referred to as Weston or Weston's, is a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Founded by George Weston in 1882, the company today consists of Weston Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary, and Loblaw Compani ...

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

Working in his father's business, at the age of 22, he invented the

Wagon Wheels Wagon Wheels are a sweet snack food sold in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, other Commonwealth countries like New Zealand and India, and Ireland. They consist of two biscuits that form a sandwich with a marshmallow filling with jam, and ...

biscuit which carried the family name. He became managing director of Ryvita in 1951, but left in 1954 to co-found 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 The Garfield Weston Foundation is a grant-giving charity based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1958 by Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston (1898–1978), who during his lifetime contributed to numerous humanitarian causes, both ...

and was a benefactor of numerous

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

projects. For instance, in 1999, he directed a 20 million pound donation to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

from the Garfield Weston Foundation, set up in 1958 with money from his parents, siblings and himself.

Personal life

Weston married Mary Kippenberger, daughter of Major-General Sir

Howard Kippenberger Major General Sir Howard Karl Kippenberger, (28 January 1897 – 5 May 1957), known as "Kip", was an officer of the New Zealand Military Forces who served in the First and Second World Wars. Born in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, Kippe ...

, and they had six children together: Guy, Jana, Kate, George, Sophia and Garth. His son

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

is chief executive of ABF, and son Guy is chairman of

Wittington Investments Limited Wittington Investments Limited is a privately owned British holding company. It was incorporated in 1941 and is based in London, England. The company is 79.2% owned by the Garfield Weston Foundation, one of the United Kingdom's largest grant-ma ...

, 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.Matthew Beard
"Garry Weston, grocer, philanthropist and frugal billionaire, dies after long illness"
in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

on 2002-02-16. Retrieved 2015-12-17

Notes

1927 births 2002 deaths 20th-century British businesspeople 20th-century Canadian businesspeople British philanthropists Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Canadian philanthropists Garry Weston {{UK-business-bio-1920s-stub