James Gerald Gulliver CVO

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FRSA FICE (17 August 1930 – 12 September 1996) was the founder of

Argyll Foods Argyll Foods plc was the fourth biggest supermarket operator in the United Kingdom, through its acquisitions of a number of smaller supermarkets. In 1987 the company acquired Safeway Inc.'s UK subsidiary and in 1996 it changed its name to Saf ...

, one of the United Kingdom's largest retail businesses.

Career

He was born in

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

, Scotland, the son of successful grocer William Frederick Gulliver and Mary (née Lafferty). He was educated at Campbeltown Grammar School then studied at

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

, Gulliver served for three years in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

before joining Urwick Orr & Partners,

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...

s.James Gulliver Chairman of Food Group dies at 66
''New York Times'', 17 September 1996 In 1965 he joined

Fine Fare Fine Fare was a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Their Yellow Pack budget private label, own-label range, introduced in 1980, was the first Value brands in the United Kingdom, own brand basic ranges to be introduced in the UK. His ...

where he became

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

within two years. In 1977, together with

Alistair Grant Sir Matthew Alistair Grant (6 March 1937 – 22 January 2001) was a British businessman. Life He was born in Haddington, East Lothian, the eldest of six children. His father was an RAF PE instructor and was initially educated at Knox Academy. ...

, a

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

specialist who he had worked with at Fine Fare, and David Webster, a

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodi ...

er, he founded James Gulliver Associates. In September 1978, he bought the meat company belonging to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

chairman

Louis Edwards Louis Charles Edwards (15 June 1914 – 25 February 1980) was an English businessman from Salford, Lancashire, who was most notable for being chairman of Manchester United from June 1965 until his death in February 1980. Early life and busin ...

for £100,000 plus shares and renamed it

, acquiring numerous retail concerns including 130

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

outlets. Within 10 years of the purchase, the company was worth £1.7 billion. Gulliver also bought 100,000 of Edwards' shares in Manchester United for £250,000 and was given a seat on the club's board of directors (although fellow director and former manager

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...

abstained from the vote to give Gulliver a seat, saying he did not know who Gulliver was). Gulliver later became the club's vice-president. He sold his stake in 1986, but retained two seats in the directors' box at the club's

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

ground. He was also the vice-chairman of Heart of Midlothian. In 1985, he tried unsuccessfully to acquire Distillers but lost the bidding to

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

. He retired from the business later that year. In 1990, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Hugh Sutherland, Ronald Roberts, Sir Kenneth Alexander and Sir

Monty Finniston Sir Harold Montague "Monty" Finniston FRS FRSE (15 August 1912 – 2 February 1991) was a Scottish industrialist. Life He was born at 26 Aikenhead Road in Govanhill, Glasgow the son of Robert Finniston. His family were of Russian Jewish origi ...

. He was awarded the CVO in 1995 for his services to the

Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young ...

. He died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1996.

Family

He was married four times: Margaret Joan Cormack (1958), Joanne Simms (1977), Marjorie H. Moncrieff (1985) and lastly Melanie Crossley (1993). He had five children with his first wife Joan: James, Fiona, Andrew, Alison and Iain.

References

1930 births 1996 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow British retail company founders 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Georgia Tech alumni Manchester United F.C. directors and chairmen People from Campbeltown Royal Navy officers Scottish sailors Heart of Midlothian F.C. directors and chairmen {{UK-business-bio-1930s-stub