Peter FitzGerald (born 1950) is a Northern Irish biochemist and businessman, and the founder and owner of

Randox Health Randox is an international health and toxicology company in the ''in vitro'' diagnostics industry headquartered in the UK, and owned by Peter FitzGerald. The company develops diagnostic solutions for hospitals, clinical, research and molecular l ...

. FitzGerald was born in Belfast, and his parents moved to Crumlin. He was educated at

Wallace High School, Lisburn The Wallace High School is an 11–18 co-educational voluntary grammar school and sixth form in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. History It was founded in 1880 by a bequest from the estate of Sir Richard Wallace, local landowner, ...

, followed by a degree in biochemistry from the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

, and a PhD from the

National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute for Medical Research (commonly abbreviated to NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC); In 2016, the NIMR b ...

in London. FitzGerald was a junior fellow at

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, before leaving to start his own company. FitzGerald started Randox in 1982, aged 32, from a small lab in a chicken house in Randox Road,

Crumlin, County Antrim Crumlin () is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is at the head of a wooded glen on the Camlin River, near Lough Neagh, and west of Belfast city centre. Belfast International Airport lies just north of the village at Aldergrove. It ...

, at the rear of his parents' farm. In 2017, The ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

'' estimated his net worth at £255 million, and in 2020 at £215 million. FitzGerald is married to Nuailin, which he has called his "best business decision". In 2016, they had two children, Peter (aged 18) and Angharad (16). He is "a keen polo player", and Randox hosts an annual polo tournament in Errol, Perthshire, Scotland. Randox Health began sponsoring the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

in 2016, and in January 2021 the initial arrangement was extended to 2026. Fitzgerald stated how much he enjoyed working with the

Jockey Club The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs and both the Rowley Mile and July Course in Newmarket, amo ...

's team at

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, north-east of Liverpool city centre, in North West England. It i ...

and that he was looking forward to five more years of involvement. In 2020, he said that he had no plans to retire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FitzGerald, Peter Living people Alumni of the University of Strathclyde National Institute for Medical Research faculty British company founders People from County Antrim People educated at Wallace High School, Lisburn 1950 births