Alzheimer’s torment of £50m tycoon
Fashion chain founder tells of husband’s battle with dementia
fashion tycoon Vera Weisfeld has spoken for the first time about her husband’s devastating battle with dementia.
she and her husband Gerald founded What Every Woman Wants, which became scotland’s most popular fashion retailer in the 1970s and 80s.
The couple sold their business in 1990 for £50million.
But Mrs Weisfeld, 80, has said their retirement was blighted when her partner of 42 years was diagnosed with alzheimer’s.
Yesterday, Mr Weisfeld, 78, became the first resident of the £10million Bothwell Castle Care home in Bothwell, Lanarkshire.
Mrs Weisfeld said: ‘at first we treated his loss of memory quite lightly. We joked that he was the absent-minded professor.’ however, she added that her husband’s health began to worsen 12 years ago when he began forgetting where he had parked cars.
she added: ‘This dreadful disease slowly destroys the brain and body. The person has no control over what is happening.
‘it is tragic to watch, but it has always been important to us that he retains his dignity.
‘Gerald was cared for at home with specialist assistance until we could not manage any longer. in common with a lot of partners and family members, it started to have an impact on my health too.
‘i am in awe of carers, who do far more than required of them. They deserve to get paid much more than they do. They are marvellous.’
Mrs Weisfeld said her husband ‘brought the fashion scene to scotland’, adding: ‘he had one of the finest business brains in Britain. he was always ahead of his time, a great forward-thinker.
‘on a saturday, he would walk along argyle street, counting the
‘One of the finest business brains’
number of shoppers carrying What Every bags. he would come back and tell us how much we would make that day – and he was almost always spot on.’
Mr Weisfeld’s business acumen, together with his wife’s marketing skills, transformed What Every into one of the most profitable high street chains in Britain, with 37 stores across scotland and northern England.
The couple decided to sell their empire following a near-death experience in south america, when their aircraft caught fire over the Brazilian jungle.
of her husband’s illness, Mrs Weisfeld said: ‘Lots of families are going through the pain we are suffering. it is a terrifying condition and it is becoming endemic.
‘The irony is that Gerald spent millions helping other people with their problems. now, despite our wealth, we can’t do anything about his situation.’
The news is the latest traumatic experience Mrs Weisfeld has had to endure in recent years after her eldest son, John McDonald, died five years ago at the age of 51.
he had been involved in running the high street clothing chain before it was sold.
Twice-divorced Mr McDonald, who latterly ran a property business with his younger brother Michael, had been a director of Celtic fC since 1994.
he was also involved with the charitable Weisfeld foundation.