Galen Weston

Garfield Weston, a Canadian businessman whose father George Weston established George Weston Limited, had successfully expanded overseas during the 1930s by acquiring and modernising biscuit and bread factories throughout the United Kingdom.

Willard Gordon Galen Weston (October 29, 1940April 12, 2021) was a British-Canadian billionaire businessman and Chairman Emeritus of George Weston Limited, a Canadian food processing and distribution company.

Weston was born to Reta Lila (Howard) and W. Garfield Weston at Marlow in Buckinghamshire, approximately 30 mi west of London, on October 29, 1940 – the youngest of nine children.

In 1945, Weston and his family returned to Canada but moved frequently as his father pursued various business ventures, which included supermarket chains in North America and Europe.

Growing up, Weston worked in the stores that comprised his father's retail holdings.

He once noted, "I've been a bag boy a thousand times in five languages."

Between 1954 and 1959, he was educated in the United Kingdom at the elite London school, St Paul's.

In 1962, after briefly studying business administration at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario, Weston moved to Dublin to set up a grocery store.

A second location followed, and the outlets evolved into the Powers chain of supermarkets.

Weston found the Republic of Ireland a land of opportunity:

Southern Ireland in the early Sixties, in terms of growth, was where the real opportunities existed.

The population was coming to Dublin, the European Community was becoming more and more aware of Ireland.

Lemass was beginning to take a different perspective upon capital coming into the country and it looked like there was going to be a major opportunity for growth.

By 1965, Weston's business had grown to six grocery stores.

Four years later, he expanded his business interests with the purchase of a bankrupt department store called Todd Burns, which he renamed Penneys (now known as Primark outside of Ireland).

Within a year, four more stores opened, all with a similar discount format.

Two years later, the first Penneys outside of Dublin was launched, followed by eleven more stores, including one in Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, Weston married Hilary Frayne, one of Ireland's top fashion models, in 1966.

In the early 1970s, Weston expanded his grocery holdings with the acquisition of competitor Quinnsworth.

In 1971, Weston purchased an interest in Brown Thomas, the upscale Dublin department store, and gave it to his wife as a present.

In 1971, Weston was asked by Garfield Weston, Chairman of George Weston Limited, to take a look at Loblaws, the company's Ontario-based supermarket chain, which appeared headed for bankruptcy.

He found a company deeply in debt with too many small, aging outlets, and a market share recently cut in half.

"The big question then was should this chain be closed up or should we make the enormous investment in money and time to return it to its former place. I felt that from a retailing standpoint Loblaws was the nucleus of potentially the finest company in Canada."

In February 1972, Weston was appointed chief executive officer of Loblaw Companies and immediately began consolidating operations.

Financing was arranged through a Weston family holding company to free Loblaws from store leaseback agreements.

Within a year, 78 money-losing locations were closed down.

Weston noted that, "as a 200-store chain, we didn't look very good. As a 100-store chain, we looked very good indeed."

Weston next hired designer Don Watt to remodel one of the chain's Toronto outlets on a budget of only $30,000.

"Loblaws is in such trouble that if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter. If it works – good."

The new store featured an expanded produce section moved upfront with huge photographs of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and baked goods.

It used panelling and big moveable display bins, in addition to new colours and logo.

Sales dramatically increased.

Loblaws also introduced a new advertising campaign, featuring Canadian actor William Shatner of Star Trek fame who told viewers, "More than the price is right at Loblaws ... but by gosh the price is right."

Weston also brought in new managerial talent that included former university schoolmate Dave Nichol and fellow McKinsey consultant Richard Currie, who took on the role of "change agents".

In spite of no previous experience in the retail food industry, Weston gave Nichol and Currie the authority to force change on an often reluctant senior management.

They eventually acquired full ownership in 1984.

Weston and his family, with an estimated net worth of US$8.7 billion, are listed as the third wealthiest in Canada and 178th in the world by Forbes magazine (June 2019).

In addition to being one of the country's leading bakers through wholly owned subsidiary Weston Foods, he was an experienced supermarket retailer who maintained a controlling interest in Loblaw Companies, Canada's largest food retailer, through a family holding company.

Weston was also head of the world's second-largest luxury goods retailer as chairman of Holt Renfrew in Canada and the Selfridges Group, owner of Selfridges in the United Kingdom, Brown Thomas in Ireland, the De Bijenkorf department store chain in the Netherlands, and the recently acquired Ogilvy department store in Montreal.

Weston was chairman of The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, a Canadian charitable foundation that has made close to $200 million in donations over the past decade.