Sir Ralph Halpern Obituary

Former Chief Executive of Burton Group, Sir Ralph Halpern, died on August 10, 2022.  He was aged 83.

He is survived by two children and extended family members.

“Our father left an irreplaceable mark on the spirit of entrepreneurship and the UK’s retail landscape, and he did it in his own very special way,” Halpern’s daughter, Jenny Halpern Prince, announced.

Who Was Sir Ralph Halpern?

Sir Ralph Halpern is a British-born entrepreneur, born on October 24, 1938.

His parents were Jewish and had moved to London after fleeing from the Nazis in the 1930s.

Halpern sat at the helm of affairs of the menswear retailer Burton Group from the late 1970s to 1991.

He had been married twice in his lifetime. His first wife, Joan Halpern, divorced him in 1999; and his second wife, Laura Blume divorced him in 2007).

Sir Ralph Halpern Career

Halpern was a management trainee in Burton Group in 1961 and had helped in creating Top Shop in 1964.

He rose through the ranks and became chief executive in 1978 and transformed the company into a retail empire.

The company grew with over 2,800 stores and employed over  60,000 people.

Under Halpern, the company’s net worth also grew to £1.8 billion, with brands including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, Principles, Racing Green and Evans.