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David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Wolfson of Sunningdale
Wolfson in 2012
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Life peerage
26 March 1991 – 13 June 2017
Downing Street Chief of Staff
In office
4 May 1979 – 2 September 1985
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJonathan Powell (1997)
Personal details
Born
David Wolfson

(1935-11-03)3 November 1935
Willesden, London, England
Died10 March 2021(2021-03-10) (aged 85)
Political partyConservative
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1962; div. 1967)​
Susan Davis
​
(divorced)​
Alicia Trevor
​
(m. 2018)​
Children4, including Simon
RelativesWolfson family
EducationClifton College
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge (MA)
Stanford University (MBA)

David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale (3 November 1935 – 10 March 2021) was a British Conservative politician and businessman.

Early life

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David Wolfson was born on 3 November 1935 in Willesden, London. The son of Charles and Hylda Wolfson (née Jarvis), he was educated at Clifton College and Trinity College, Cambridge,[1] where he graduated with a Master of Arts in economics and law in 1956. He was further educated in Stanford University, California, where he received a Master of Business Administration in 1959.

Career

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Wolfson was director of Great Universal Stores (GUS) from 1973 to 1978 and from 1993 to 2000, and chairman from 1996 to 2000. The retailer had been founded by his uncle Isaac Wolfson as a mail order clothing company. He was first introduced to Margaret Thatcher by the Conservative Party treasurer Alistair McAlpine in 1975.[1] In 1978 and 1979[citation needed] he was Secretary to the shadow cabinet and between 1979 and 1985 Chief of Staff of the Political Office, 10 Downing Street. In that role he interviewed Bernard Ingham in 1979, before Ingham was made Thatcher's press secretary. The first official Chief of Staff in Number 10, he was the sole holder of the office until Jonathan Powell in 1997.[1]

He was chairman of the Alexon Group plc from 1982 to 1986, of Next plc from 1990 to 1998, of GUS from 1996 to 2000, and of William Baird from 2002 to 2003. In 2001, Wolfson was non-executive director of Fibernet, and was chairman since 2002. For Compco, he was chairman from 1995 to 2003. In 2014 he commissioned the founding of Soza Health.[citation needed]

Knighted in 1984,[2] he was created a life peer with the title Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale, of Trevose in the County of Cornwall on 26 March 1991.[3] His membership in the House of Lords was terminated on 13 June 2017 as he did not attend a sitting of the House during a session lasting six months or longer.[4]

Personal life

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Wolfson married three times. He married his first wife, Patricia Rawlings (now Baroness Rawlings) in 1962, and, after their divorce in 1967, he married Susan Davis, with whom he had two sons and one daughter. One of those sons, Simon, followed in his footsteps both as head of Next and as a Conservative life peer, having been created Baron Wolfson of Aspley Guise. Having separated from Susan Wolfson several years earlier, he finally married Alicia Trevor in May 2018 at Guildford Registry Office. They had a son, Tom, born in 2006.

Wolfson enjoyed golf and bridge.[1]

Wolfson died after suffering from dementia on 10 March 2021 at the age of 85.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Lord Wolfson of Sunningdale, businessman who became Mrs Thatcher's chief of staff at No 10 – obituary". The Telegraph. 14 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  2. ^ "No. 49966". The London Gazette. 27 December 1984. p. 17388.
  3. ^ "No. 52490". The London Gazette. 2 April 1991. p. 5091.
  4. ^ Non-attending Lords, accessed 19 June 2017
  5. ^ Lord Wolfson of Sunningdale obituary, accessed 12 March 2021
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Government offices
New office Downing Street Chief of Staff
1979–1985 		Succeeded by
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