Tom Farmer
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Sir Thomas Farmer, (born 10 July 1940) is a Scottish entrepreneur.


Early life

One of seven siblings in a devoutly Catholic family, in 1964 Farmer founded his own tyre retailing business which he sold in 1969 for £450,000. Farmer retired to the United States, but became bored and decided to find a new challenge.


Business career

Farmer returned to Edinburgh to found the
Kwik Fit Kwik Fit is a car servicing and repair company in the United Kingdom, specialising in tyres, brakes, exhausts, MOT testing, car servicing, air conditioning recharge, oil changes. As of , there are over six hundred Kwik Fit locations in the U ...
chain of garages in 1971. The firm grew quickly, mainly through acquisition, including opening in the Netherlands in 1975. Farmer was named Scottish Businessman of the Year in 1989. After building the chain to become the world's largest independent tyre and automotive repair specialists with over 2,000 centres operating in 18 different countries, Farmer sold the firm to
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
in 1999 for more than £1 billion. He is the first Scot to be awarded the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Medal for philanthropy. Farmer owned 90% of Hibernian, a professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in Edinburgh in 2003. He invested nearly £3 million to rescue the club from receivership and he continued to fund developments of
Easter Road Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-larges ...
and financial losses made by the club. Before his intervention, the club had been threatened during 1990 by an attempted takeover by Wallace Mercer, the owner of their
Edinburgh derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce r ...
rivals Hearts. Farmer has admitted that he has no great love of football, and he rarely attends matches. He felt it was important to the local community that Hibs should continue to exist, as he was informed by campaigners that his grandfather had saved the club from bankruptcy approximately 100 years earlier. Farmer delegated control of Hibs to other figures, such as Rod Petrie. He sold the majority ownership of Hibernian FC to American businessman Ronald Gordon in July 2019. According to 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 ...
'' in 2020, Farmer is worth an estimated £126 million.


Political activism

In 2006, Farmer donated £100,000 to the
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
to help fund their campaign for the 2007 Scottish Parliament general election. Farmer commented at the time that it was not an indication of his political allegiance but that he wanted the SNP to be able to compete financially with their better-funded political opponents. Farmer repeated his endorsement for the SNP in the 2011 election.


Personal life

Farmer lives 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 ...
, with his wife Anne. They have one daughter, one son and four grandchildren. Farmer also owns the island of
Inchkeith Inchkeith (from the gd, Innis Cheith) is an island in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, administratively part of the Fife council area. Inchkeith has had a colourful history as a result of its proximity to Edinburgh and strategic location for u ...
in the
Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
.


Awards and accolades

Farmer was appointed
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Monarchy of Canada, Canadian monarch, Mon ...
(CVO) in the 2009 New Year Honours for his work as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the
Duke of Edinburgh's Award 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 ...
. Farmer was made a Knight Commander with Star of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, and he was also
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
by Queen Elizabeth in 1997.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer, Tom 1940 births Living people Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Hibernian F.C. directors and chairmen Knights Bachelor Knights Commander with Star of the Order of St. Gregory the Great Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland Scottish philanthropists Scottish Roman Catholics People from Leith 20th-century Scottish businesspeople 21st-century Scottish businesspeople Businesspeople from Edinburgh People educated at St Augustine's High School, Edinburgh