W . Garfield Weston Willard Garfield Weston , OC , ( February 26 , 1898 – October 22 , 1978 ) , Canadian businessman and philanthropist , led George Weston Limited and its various subsidiaries and associated companies , including Associated British Foods , for half a century and established one of the world ' s largest food processing and distribution concerns . He also served as a Member of Parliament ( MP ) in the British House of Commons during World War II . Early years . W . Garfield Weston was born in the apartment above his father ' s Toronto bread factory in February 1898 Years later , he recounted a family story of how his father , George Weston , brought him down to the bakery floor , shortly after his birth , to put him " in the smell of bread . " In 1917 , weeks before turning nineteen , Garfield Weston joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force to fight in World War I . A year earlier he had quit school to join up , but his father refused to give his consent – the legal age of enlistment being nineteen at the time . In the interim , he was put to work in George Weston ' s biscuit factory , cleaning and repairing the equipment . While in uniform overseas , Garfield toured the world famous British biscuit factories and became convinced that the same sort of product could be manufactured and marketed in Canada . In 1919 , after serving in France as a ' Sapper ' laying communications lines at the front , Garfield returned home to take up duties at his father ' s company . He was eventually promoted to vice president of George Weston Limited and then general manager of the company ' s biscuit plant . Garfield next convinced his father to import biscuit making equipment from England : " He went back to England and not only brought out the best and most modern biscuit - making machinery money could buy , but he hired some of the leading biscuit experts in England , and moved them and their families to Toronto . Then as a further step to insure absolute uniformity of the product , the Weston firm installed a creamery to produce its own butter . " . In 1922 , " Weston ' s English Quality Biscuits " were launched . Introduced at that year ' s Canadian National Exhibition , the Toronto Daily Star reported long lines of fairgoers waiting to sample the new product . Succession . With his father ' s death in 1924 , Garfield Weston became president of George Weston Limited . Four years later , he took the company public and soon acquired controlling interest in Brantford , Ontario , biscuit and confectionery company William Paterson Limited . Weston next entered the American market , setting up a small Weston ' s " English Quality Biscuits " plant near Boston , Massachusetts . But the U . S . venture ended in near disaster after an apparent sabotage campaign by an insider secretly working for the competition . Depression . In spite of the onset of the Great Depression , Weston continued to expand operations in Canada , often acquiring financially troubled competitors . In 1931 , the Independent Biscuit Company of Calgary , Alberta , was bought out , followed by bankrupt Ontario Bakeries , with seven plants , two years later . Weston Bakeries executive Frank Riddell years later noted that it was by virtue of the company ' s ability to access credit that made such acquisitions possible : " No one had any money in those days , but Weston ' s at least had a good reputation , some assets , and a record of profit . During 1930 and 1931 the company paid out dividends totalling more than $ 228 , 000 . That record , along with Mr . Weston ' s salesmanship , enabled us to get a good line of credit . We financed and refinanced in order to expand , and often you could purchase a good deal with relatively little cash and the guarantee of Weston stock . " In 1931 , with the world mired in the Great Depression , the price of wheat collapsed and the incomes of Canadian farmers , particularly those in Western Canada , plunged . Weston , with business and family ties to the West , devised a plan to expand international markets for Canadian wheat , then the country ' s most important export . In spite of a detailed report that advised him to stay out of the British Isles , he proposed to acquire and modernize bakeries there . Those bakeries would then buy Canadian wheat that would produce a better quality of bread for the British public . But Weston found Canadian financial institutions unreceptive . Rejected by the banks , he arranged a meeting with a group of New York speculators and secured a reported $ 2 million in financing . Weston ' s first acquisition was the biscuit division of Mitchell & Muil , a century - old Scottish baker , in 1933 . He closed the antiquated plant at Aberdeen and moved production to a new facility with modern equipment at Edinburgh , with the intent of mass - producing a more affordable line of quality biscuits . " He sold fancy biscuits at exactly half the price at which they were sold by the world - famous firms all around him and he coined money . " Fifteen months after entering the British market , Garfield Weston reported sales equal to the parent Canadian company . He further announced his intention to establish bread and biscuit operations at strategic locations throughout England , Scotland and Ireland : " Some may wonder why we are going so much into bread . The British Isles , we believe , are a favourable field at present not only for the biscuit business but infinitely more for the baking of good bread . We are being morally and financially supported in a very large move in Great Britain to make better bread . Better bread can only be made in Great Britain by using more Canadian wheat . The objective of our British development in the next few years will be along the line of bread - making . " Within a few years , Weston had acquired a string of biscuit and bread plants in the United Kingdom . In order to manage the growing overseas venture , he moved his family to England in 1935 . By 1937 , with 15 plants , employing more than 15 , 000 workers under the Allied Bakeries banner , Weston was being referred to in the Canadian press as " Britain ' s Biggest Baker " . By 1939 , he controlled 30 bakeries throughout the British Isles . Meanwhile , Weston operations in the United States were reorganized in 1931 and a biscuit plant established at Passaic , New Jersey . In 1936 , the company set - up a new Weston ' s Biscuits factory at Battle Creek , Michigan , and three years later bought out bankrupt Associated Biscuit Co . of Salamanca , New York . War . In January 1939 , months before the outbreak of World War II , 300 members of the Mackenzie - Papineau Battalion , Canadians who had fought on the losing anti - Fascist side in the Spanish Civil War , faced confinement in a French internment camp . On being contacted by Canadian reporter Matthew Halton , Weston donated $ 5 , 000 to help pay for their overseas passage home to Canada . The other half of the money was raised through other sources . Weeks later , the first of the ‘ Mac - Paps ’ arrived in Halifax . During World War II , Weston sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Macclesfield but his efforts in support of the war were largely outside the British House of Commons . With the arrival of the first Canadian soldiers in England , Weston donated five hundred radios after the troops complained of boredom in their camps . In August 1940 , following a day of heavy losses during the Battle of Britain , Weston gave £100 , 000 for the replacement of fighter aircraft The donation received considerable press coverage , promoted by the Ministry of Aircraft Production and Lord Beaverbrook in the hope of raising more money through public donations to the " Spitfire Fund . " Weston also gave money and lent his name to a " Tank Fund . " 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 . Post war expansion . In 1945 , with the defeat of Nazi Germany , Weston left British politics to return home to Canada , where he settled on the West Coast for a time . Although he contemplated semi - retirement , a series of acquisition opportunities presented themselves . During the war , he had acquired Western Grocers , a food wholesaler in Western Canada , and also bought paper manufacturer E . B . Eddy Company Limited of Hull , Quebec , from friend and former Canadian Prime Minister R . B . Bennett . In 1947 , Weston was offered a large block of shares in Loblaw Grocerterias Co . Limited , one of the country ' s leading grocery chains , and over the following years acquired controlling interest . Weston next bought control of William Neilson Limited , a leading Toronto chocolate and confectionery maker . He also continued to buy bakeries in Canada and the United States , including the Southern Biscuit Company of Richmond , Virginia , and the Texas Cookie Co . of Fort Worth . By 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 . " . The post war years saw Garfield Weston continue to expand his overseas holdings , including brands such as Ryvita , acquired in 1949 . That same year , his British holding company , with 47 subsidiaries in the United Kingdom , established its first bakery units in Australia and South Africa . Ventures in New Zealand , India , and Rhodesia would follow . On the retail front , Weston bought Fortnum & Mason of London , the high - end grocer and specialty retailer , in 1951 . And in 1955 , his Allied Bakeries purchased ABC , the Aerated Bread Company , England ' s second largest chain of eateries , with 164 budget tea shops and restaurants . Meanwhile , ten percent of all bread in Great Britain was baked in Weston plants while 20 million Weston - made biscuits were eaten daily by the British public . During the mid - 1950s , Garfield Weston began developing a chain of British grocery stores under the Fine Fare banner , but early on the venture struggled with losses . In 1961 , the chain undertook a major expansion with 130 new stores opened in 15 months . At one point , Weston introduced Canadian management in an attempt to turn the chain around . Ownership was transferred to George Weston Limited but then switched to Associated British Foods . Fine Fare evolved into the largest supermarket chain in Great Britain with some 1 , 000 stores and by the 1960s turned profitable . Weston ' s Associated British Foods , successor to Allied Bakeries , also acquired Twinings , the well - known British brand of tea . On the continent , Weston secured entry into the West German market with a stake in Deutscher Supermarkt , in spite of a petition signed by thousands of Germans . Weston also won a foothold in the French retail market after indicating to President Charles de Gaulle that he could reduce food prices in the Republic . In North America , Garfield Weston rapidly expanded his holdings , particularly in the retail sector . In 1957 , subsidiary Loblaw Companies Limited acquired a large stake in Chicago - based grocer National Tea , with over 700 food stores in the United States . Controlling interest in National followed over the next decade . Weston also continued to acquire retail operations in Canada , including discount and drug stores . Meanwhile , on the resource based side , George Weston Limited bought fish processors British Columbia Packers in 1962 and Connors Brothers of New Brunswick in 1967 . Foundation . In 1959 , Weston and his wife Reta established the Garfield Weston Charitable Foundation . The foundation adopted a philosophy that since it was the hard work of employees that built a successful Canadian business that its philanthropy should be directed to the benefit of Canadians . One of its first major donations was a $ 1 million gift to the Banting and Best Institute for diabetes research at the University of Toronto . Around the same time , Weston established a similar foundation in Great Britain . Today , The W . Garfield Weston Foundation in Canada and the Garfield Weston Foundation in the United Kingdom maintain that charitable legacy . Disclosure . In December 1966 , following enquiries by a Canadian parliamentary committee examining consumer prices , George Weston Limited revealed the full extent of its corporate holdings . Organizational charts showed 150 active companies with $ 2 . 8 billion in annual sales , $ 43 million in operating profits , and company assets approaching $ 800 million , with over 1 , 800 retail stores and more than 1 , 500 franchise operations . Press reports described George Weston Limited and subsidiary Loblaw Companies Limited as the fifth largest merchandiser in the world . They further indicated that Garfield Weston , in terms of international holdings , was the second most profitable merchandiser in the world , and the third largest in sales . As Garfield Weston approached his 70th year , it was announced that he was stepping down as Chairman of Associated British Foods in favour of his son Garry Weston , who first took charge of Ryvita in 1951 and then spent more than a decade expanding company operations in Australia . " My main job now is to take the day - to - day operations of the group off my father ' s shoulders " , Garry Weston was quoted at the time . Garfield Weston assumed the new post of ABF President . Consolidation . By the early 1970s , W . Garfield Weston ' s North American retail operations were under considerable financial pressure and appeared headed for bankruptcy . With dwindling cash , considerable debt , and supermarket price wars that had cut the company ' s share of the crucial Ontario market in half , he asked his youngest son , Galen Weston , to take a look at Loblaws to see if it could be saved . In February 1972 , he appointed Galen Weston as Chief Executive Officer of Loblaw Companies Limited . An extensive restructuring began which resulted in hundreds of ageing , unprofitable outlets in Canada and the United States being closed . Those stores that remained were renovated and rebranded . Half of all Loblaws stores in Ontario were eventually shut down , but the company regained market share on the strength of its redesigned supermarkets . In 1974 , Garfield Weston appointed W . Galen Weston Chairman and Managing Director of George Weston Limited He retained the position of Vice Chairman and President . In 1976 , Loblaw sold off three unprofitable divisions of its National Tea Co . subsidiary in the United States . The sale of its Chicago , Syracuse , and California State supermarkets , or about half its remaining outlets in the U . S . , represented the first step in a gradual divestiture of all retail and wholesale operations south of the border . That same year George Weston Limited recorded its first year - end loss in the company ' s history . By fiscal 1977 , though , both George Weston Limited and Loblaw Companies Limited had returned to profitability . In January 1978 , Garfield Weston was made an Officer of the Order of Canada . That October , he died of a heart attack at the age of 80 . He was laid to rest at Mount Pleasant Cemetery , Toronto . W . Garfield Weston was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1980 . Controversial views on race . Garfield Weston was a supporter of apartheid , and was once quoted as saying that " every black pickaninny or mammy can call on the government for solutions to every social problem . "