Don McCarthy
House of Fraser chairman
BORN JUNE 19, 1955 - DIED JULY 21, 2018, AGED 63
FROM a Saturday shop assistant to boss of one of the high street’s biggest brands, House of Fraser’s former chairman Donald McCarthy built a retail empire after making a name for himself in the shoe trade.
Born in Bromley, London, McCarthy was one of five children of Daniel, a farmer, and his wife Maura.
While at St Thomas the Apostle School in Nunhead, McCarthy got a Saturday job at the Stead & Simpson shoe shop in Streatham and left school at 15 to work there full time. Within two years he was managing the store.
Determined to work in central London, McCarthy joined Kurt Geiger as assistant manager of its flagship store in 1975.
There he was mentored by the owner David Spitz and when Spitz launched a cheaper women’s chain Carvela a year later, he put McCarthy in charge of a dozen stores.
By 1991 McCarthy was keen to branch out on his own and left to set up Shoe Studio Group (SSG), which owned 270 stores across the UK at its height. McCarthy sold SSG in 1997 but in 2001 he bought it back, meeting changing customer demand by adding fashion accessories to his shoe empire.
He sold the group – renamed Rubicon – in 2006, making a personal fortune of £135million.
A year later, with the backing of an Icelandic investor, he took over House of Fraser.
He also became an unofficial spokesman for retailers, warning about the death of the high street.
McCarthy oversaw a company restructuring and in 2014 sold the business, stepping down as chairman.
McCarthy died from cancer and is survived by his two children, John and Hannah.
His wife Diane, who he married in 1985, died in 2006.