Hilary M. Weston, retail mogul, socialite, philanthropist, and a former lieutenant governor of Ontario, Canada, died Saturday at the age of 83.
Weston’s passing was confirmed by her children Galen G. Weston and Alannah Weston Cochrane.
“Our mother lived with unwavering devotion to her family and a belief in the power and importance of community and service,” Galen Weston said in a statement. “Brilliant, brave, companionate, and beautiful, she brought a touch of magic to everything she did — in her decades of public service, philanthropy, and her remarkable business career. Her greatest joy was the life she created for her family and friends — filled with warmth, love and fun.”
Alannah Weston Cochrane added: “Our mother’s elegance and high standards were matched by her warmth and sense of humor. She loved a challenge and brought her innate creativity and style to everything she did. But it was her vision, coupled with her enormous capacity for hard work that made her a great female leader. Her insight, wisdom, and strength as well as her belief in individuals made almost anything possible.”
Weston was the widow of the late W. Galen Weston, the retailer who died in 2021 and helmed food, retail and real estate companies in North America, the U.K. and Europe. Among his holdings was the Selfridges Group, comprising the eponymous store in the U.K., Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, and the Holt Renfrew luxury chain in Canada. Several of Weston’s holdings were sold off, but the family’s business remains quite substantial and includes in Canada the Loblaw food chain; Shoppers Drug Mart, a pharmacy and convenience chain, and Holt Renfrew. The Westons also control Wittington Investments, a holding company for Associated British Foods, which includes international value retailer Primark and Twinings Tea.
As a young woman, Weston worked as a fashion model to support her family beginning in the 1950s when Irish designer Sybil Connelly asked her to model her couture styles. The Irish Times once quoted her saying: “I was a sort of muse. In a way, at that time, one was representing Irish fashion. Chanel always used Irish tweed. Poplin, silk poplin, it was all made in Ireland. Sybil Connolly made these incredible dresses and ball gowns in fine hand-pleated linen. Everyone in America loved those things.”
Weston met the man she would marry at a dinner party in her native Ireland, though, as the story goes, her husband was prone to saying that he first spotted her on a billboard in Dublin in which she appeared in HotPants. She was in her early 20s when they got married, and not long after, she became an integral participant in the Weston business empire. Among the roles she filled, she served as deputy chair of Holt Renfrew and director of Brown Thomas. She was also quite influential in shaping the offering at Primark. In their decades together, the billionaire couple divided their time primarily between London and Toronto, shaping their business holding and the retail/fashion landscape in the territories they covered. They were considered “Canadian royalty.”
Weston served as Ontario’s lieutenant governor from 1997 to 2002, the second woman to hold the position and the first from Ireland. According to Wikipedia, during her five-year tenure as lieutenant governor, Weston spotlighted the contributions of volunteers, women and youth, while focusing on the homeless, hospices and at-risk youth. She also donated her $92,000 annual government salary to charity. In 1979, Weston founded the Ireland Fund of Canada, which supports community projects in Ireland promoting peace.
Born Hilary Frayne in Dún Laoghaire in 1942, Weston attended Loreto Abbey Dalkey, a prestigious Catholic school in Ireland. Her lifelong passion for the arts, education, health research and volunteerism culminated in recent years with the creation of The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation. Since 2021, the foundation has committed close to $150 million to charities for health care, education, women, refugees and the environment in Canada, Ireland, and the U.K. With her husband, in the ’90s, the two created Windsor, a luxurious private residential community in Vero Beach, Fla., reflecting their appreciation for design, architecture, nature and sustainability. They also lived there. She was given the Order of Canada in 2003 for outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service.
Galen and Hilary Weston
