James Gerald Gulliver CVO FRSE FRSA FICE (17 August 1930 – 12 September 1996) was the founder of Argyll Foods, one of the United Kingdom's largest retail businesses.
Career
[edit]He was born in Campbeltown, Scotland, the son of successful grocer[1] William Frederick Gulliver and Mary (née Lafferty).[2][3][4] He was educated at Campbeltown Grammar School then studied at University of Glasgow and Georgia Institute of Technology, Gulliver served for three years in the Royal Navy before joining Urwick Orr & Partners, management consultants.[5] In 1965 he joined Fine Fare where he became chairman within two years.[5]
In 1977, together with Alistair Grant, a marketing specialist who he had worked with at Fine Fare, and David Webster, a merchant banker, he founded James Gulliver Associates. In September 1978, he bought the meat company belonging to Manchester United chairman Louis Edwards for £100,000 plus shares and renamed it Argyll Foods, acquiring numerous retail concerns including 130 Safeway outlets.[5] 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 abstained from the vote to give Gulliver a seat, saying he did not know who Gulliver was).[6] 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 ground.[7] He was also the vice-chairman of Heart of Midlothian.[8]
In 1985, he tried unsuccessfully to acquire Distillers but lost the bidding to Guinness. He retired from the business later that year.[5]
In 1990, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Hugh Sutherland, Ronald Roberts, Sir Kenneth Alexander and Sir Monty Finniston.[4]
He was awarded the CVO in 1995 for his services to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.[8]
Personal life and death
[edit]He was married four times: to Margaret Joan Cormack (1958), Joanne Simms (1977), Marjorie H. Moncrieff (1985) and lastly Melanie Crossley (1993).[4] He had five children with his first wife.
Gulliver died in Edinburgh in 1996.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ Ibrahim, Youssef M. (17 September 1996). "James Gulliver, Chairman Of Food Group, Dies at 66". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ People of Today 1995 edition, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1995, p. 827
- ^ "Gulliver, James Gerald (1930–1996), businessman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63338. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b c Biological index of former fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
- ^ a b c d James Gulliver Chairman of Food Group dies at 66 New York Times, 17 September 1996
- ^ Dewhurst, Keith (2009). When You Put on a Red Shirt. London: Yellow Jersey Press. p. 258. ISBN 9780224082839.
- ^ Basham, Brian (23 September 1996). "Obituary:James Gulliver". The Independent. Independent Print. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- ^ a b c "RSE Fellowship" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
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