James Gulliver

Businessman | Number 12

James Gulliver was born in Campbeltown, Argyll in 1930, the son of a successful local grocer.  He was a distinguished pupil and dux of Campbeltown Grammar School.  He graduated with First Class Honours in civil engineering from Glasgow University together with a gold medal and obtained a Fulbright scholariship to continue his studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

He spent his national service as a short-service Commissioned Officer in the Royal Navy before joining Urwick, Orr & Partners, management consultants.  In 1965 he joined Fine Fare and became chairman in 1967.

In 1977 he founded James Gulliver Associates which went on to become Argyll Foods, acquiring numerous retail concerns over the next ten years.  In 1987 Argyll was in a position to acquire the UK activities of the Safeway supermarket chain.

The defining moment of his career came in 1985 when the Argyll Group launched an ambitious bid for Distillers, the Scottish whisky group, losing out controversially to Guinness.

He was described by his friends as a thoughtful and generous host with an irrepressible sense of fun. His greatest pleasure was to be awarded the CVO by HM The Queen in 1996 in recognition of his work for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. That and his Glasgow gold medal were displayed in his house in Heriot Row.

He died in Edinburgh on 12th September 1996, aged 66.