Galen Weston’s fortune comes largely from the grocery and food service business his grandfather founded in 1882 called George Weston Ltd., which is also Canada’s largest private sector employer. After taking control of the struggling Loblaw’s chain in 1972, he executed a strategy of closing underperforming stores and upgrading the more successful ones.
His son, Galen Weston Jr., currently runs Loblaw Cos., which acquired Canadian drugstore chain Shoppers Drug Mart for $12B in 2013 and controls one of Canada’s largest REITs, Choice Properties REIT.
Weston also has a controlling interest in Selfridges Group, which has retail holdings in Canada, the U.K., Ireland and the Netherlands. In 1989, Weston and his wife, Hilary, also founded Windsor, a 416-acre luxury community in Vero Beach, Florida. — Scott Klocksin
