A business tycoon who transformed Weetabix into the one of the world’s best loved breakfasts left a £42million fortune to his wife and family.
Sir Richard George sold the popular healthy cereal to an American private equity group for £642 million in 2003.
He started working at his family firm in 1968, joined the board in 1972, and 10 years later became chairman and managing director.
Sir Richard passed away, aged 71, in March last year and his published will has now revealed he left a UK estate worth £31,276,956 and also had more than £10million in foreign assets.
Sir Richard George presents US golfer Sherri Steinhauer with a trophy after she won the 2006 Weetabix Women’s British Open
He left the bulk of his wealth in trust for his widow Lady Jane and their family.
Sir Richard had £1.2million in property in Scotland and also a £100,000 Bentley car.
He also had £29million stocks and shares portfolio as well as £10million of shares held overseas in Gibraltar and Iceland.
Sir Richard’s wealth also saw him hold a share of a private jet and Icelandic ponies.
After he retired, he moved to Gullane, East Lothian, with his family and indulged his passion for golf.
Under his leadership, Weetabix had sponsored the Women’s British Open golf tournament from 1987 to 2006.
He grew Weetabix from a £55 million-a-year company to a business whose turnover topped £308 million, with profits of £52 million, before tax.
He passed away aged 71 in March last year and his published will has now revealed he left a UK estate worth £31,276,956 and also had more than £10M in foreign assets.
Documents show he left the bulk of his enormous wealth will be held in trust for the benefit of his widow Lady Jane and their family.
Sir Richard had £1.2million in property in Scotland and also a £100,000 Bentley car.
He also had a massive £29million stocks and shares portfolio as well as £10million of shares held overseas in Gibraltar and Iceland.
Sir Richard grew Weetabix from a £55 million-a-year company to a business whose turnover topped £308 million, with profits of £52 million, before tax
Sir Richard’s wealth also saw him hold a share of a private jet and Icelandic ponies.
Weetabix started life in Australia and was brought to Britain in 1932 by a group of South Africans, who rented a mill from Whitworths in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire.
The venture failed but within a year but Sir Richard’s grandfather Frank, a Whitworths employee, took over the company.
By 1997 Weetabix had established itself as the market leader, having steadily overtaken the American-owned Kellogg’s Cornflakes.
The late Queen Mother bestowed a warrant of ‘by royal appointment’, as did the Queen and Prince Charles. By the end of the century the company was employing about 2,500 people at sites in Northamptonshire, East Sussex and Manchester.
But the brand began to suffer from competitive pressures and falling profits and in 2003 the George family agreed to sell the business ending their 70-year control.
Speaking at the time of the sale Sir Richard said: ‘I did shed a tear when I pushed the button to send the acquisition document off.’
The second of three brothers, Sir Richard was born on April 24 1944, when his grandfather was running the company, and grew up in Gretton, near Uppingham.
His father, William, would succeed as chairman of Weetabix in 1970, stepping down in 1982.
He was educated at Repton and at Kansas State University, where he studied milling and agriculture, before joining the family firm in 1968.
In 1995 he was knighted for services to the food industry. He was appointed CVO in 1998.