grave post - Weston

Some of you may recognize                                                                    this flourished signature

as that of Weston Bakery, started by his father George Weston.
W. Garfield Weston was born above his father's bread factory in Toronto in 1898. He was exceptionally gifted at making business deals and thus able to expand his empire during the Depression after his father's death. He bought out many smaller bakeries across Canada during the early 1930s and eventually ventured into Britain with a plan to buy and modernize bakeries there and (here's the brilliant part) get them to use Canadian wheat. By the end of the war, his vast holdings would include fisheries, frozen foods, and some 2000 (!) bakery, retail and grocery chains in Britain, South Africa, Germany, France, the US, and Australia and NZ. I am sure he was not always welcomed into these countries, yet in 1948 Canadian press reports described Garfield Weston as "the biggest manufacturer of bread in the world, the largest biscuit maker in the British Empire and Canada's largest wholesale grocer". [wikipedia]

Garfield Weston always considered himself a Canadian but moved his family of six girls and two boys (later to add another son, Galen) to Britain in the 1930s. He didn't shirk from helping or getting involved and was the MPP for Macclesfield  (hi Gilly!) during the war and was known for his philanthropic donations such as when during the Blitz, the Nazi aerial bombing campaign, he set up a system of canteens that fed thousands of civilians as they took shelter in the London Underground. He and his family also hosted air service personnel at their estate outside of London, providing a place of retreat.[wikipedia]

The Weston fortune continues to grow and in 2003-04, George Weston Ltd had the highest gross of any Canadian company with 120,000 Canadian employees with another 22,850 worldwide. The family fortune is estimated at around $7.7 billion. Garfield's youngest son Galen is considered among the top 50 richest men in the world.


W Galen Weston (b 1940) the grandson of George, son of W Garfield 
Weston is 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 of Ireland, the De Bijenkorf department store chain in the Netherlands, and the recently acquired Ogilvy department store in Montreal. (wikipedia)

Yousuf Karsh photo c 1962

and Galen G Weston (b 1972) the great-grandson...

Galen Jr has two sons, neither of whom are named Galen, though the G tradition continues with Griffin and Graydon.
Galen Sr is married to Hilary Weston who was the Lieutenant Governor General of Ontario from 1997-2002.

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