Roy Raymond
Roy Raymond | |
|---|---|
| Born | Roy Larson Raymond[1] April 15, 1947 |
| Died | August 26, 1993 (aged 46) |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder of Victoria's Secret |
| Children | 2 |
Roy Raymond (April 15, 1947 – August 26, 1993)[1] was an American businessman who started the Victoria's Secret lingerie retail store.
Raymond, an alumnus of Tufts University and The Stanford Graduate School of Business, opened the first Victoria's Secret store at the Stanford Shopping Center after feeling embarrassed trying to purchase lingerie for his wife in an awkward, public department store environment. To open the store, he took a $40,000 bank loan and borrowed $40,000 from relatives. The company earned $500,000 in its first year. He quickly started a mail order catalog and opened three more stores.[2]
In 1982, after five years of operation, Raymond sold the Victoria's Secret company, with its six stores and 42-page catalogue, grossing $6 million per year, to Leslie Wexner, creator of The Limited, for $4 million.[3] By the early 1990s, Victoria's Secret had become the largest American lingerie retailer, topping one billion dollars. In FY 2009, Victoria's Secret was worth over $5 Billion USD.
In 1984, Raymond started My Child's Destiny, a retail store for children which went bankrupt in 1986.
On August 26, 1993, Raymond committed suicide by leaping off the Golden Gate Bridge at the age of 46.[2][4]
In popular culture
In the 2010 film The Social Network, Raymond is referenced by Sean Parker as a warning to Mark Zuckerberg of the dangers of failing to understand the potential of a successful idea.
References
- ^ a b c d California Deaths, 1940 - 1997,Roy Larson Raymond – Birth Date: 04/15/1947, Death Date: 08/26/1993, Birth Place: Connecticut, Death Place: Marin (County)
- ^ a b Roy Raymond, 47*; Began Victoria's Secret, The New York Times, September 2, 1993. (*His California death record—listed above—shows that he was born in 1947 and died at age 46. This obituary likely mixed up his birth year and age. No date of birth is listed.)
- ^ McGinn, Dan. Case Study: Victoria's Secrets, Jungle Magazine, 1 Feb. 2001[dead link]
- ^ Bonander, Ross (Dec 2, 2009). "5 Things You Didn't know: Victoria's Secret". AskMen.com. Retrieved 2 December 2009.