David Harrison Gilmour (November 5, 1931 – June 11, 2023) was a Canadian businessman and investor. He was the founder of Fiji Water.[1][2][3][4] Gilmour founded Wakaya Perfection in 2011, a multi-level marketing nutrition company.[5][6][7]
David Gilmour | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 5, 1931 |
| Died | June 11, 2023 (aged 91) New York, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, investor |
| Known for | Founder of Fiji Water |
Early life
editDavid Harrison Gilmour was born in Winnipeg on November 5, 1931, and grew up in Toronto.[8] His father was Adam Gilmour, an investment banker, and his mother was Doris Godson Gilmour, an opera singer.[8] At age 16, his father offered him the option between enough cash to start his own company, or a $10 stipend a day to go travelling in Europe on his own.[1] He chose to go travelling, and believed he learned how to become an entrepreneur by observing other people on his travels.[1]
Career
editGilmour created his first company, Dansk Design, an importer of Scandinavian furniture and giftware.[1][2][9] He then founded TrizecHahn, a real estate firm.[1][3] In 1958, he co-founded Clairtone, a stereo maker, with Peter Munk.[1] They then bought property in Fiji and started the hotel chain called the Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation in 1969.[1][3][9] Less than a decade later, they sold it for $128 million.[1] They then bought a $40 million gold mine in Northern Ontario, and co-founded Barrick Gold.[1][3] He also bought Zinio, now one of the world's largest electronic distributors of magazines, books, catalogs and apps.[1][2]
Gilmour later bought Wakaya Island in Fiji.[1][2] It was sold to future (April 2019) convicted felon Clare Bronfman in 2016.[10] In 1996, he co-founded Fiji Water with Peter Munk, after he found an aquifer in Yaqara Valley on Viti Levu.[1][2][4][11] It became the No. 1 brand of imported water, even before Evian.[1] In 2004, he sold it to Lynda Resnick for $50 million.[1][12] He also founded Wakaya Club & Spa, a luxury resort on Wakaya Island.[2] Prince Felipe of Spain and his wife Letizia, Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, Steve Jobs, Rupert Murdoch, George Lucas, Michelle Pfeiffer, David E. Kelley, Robert Zemeckis, Paris Hilton, and Tom Cruise have all stayed in the resort.[2][3] He has also built a village and a school for his Fiji workers.[2]
Personal life
editHis third wife, Jill, is a native of Auckland, New Zealand.[2] They used to live on Wakaya Island four months a year.[2] They also lived in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.[3]
Gilmour and his first wife, Anna, had a daughter named Erin who was found stabbed to death in her Toronto apartment, aged 22, on December 20, 1983. A suspect was identified through genetic genealogy and arrested in November 2022.[3][13][14]
Gilmour died from a cardiac arrest in Manhattan on June 11, 2023, at the age of 91.[8]
Bibliography
edit- Start Up: The Life and Lessons of a Serial Entrepreneur (2011)
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Brian Deagon, 'Gilmour's Empire Started With Learning To Listen', Investor's Business Daily, 12/30/2011 [1]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mitchell Owens, 'A Fantasy Home on a Tropical Island', in Elle Decor [2] Archived 2011-08-30 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f g 'A Private Beach, A Princely Bure, & You Beside Me', in Condé Nast Traveler, December 2010 [3] Archived 2013-10-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b 'The water man speaks', in the Fiji Times, August 07, 2008 [4]
- ^ "Wakaya Perfection Disrupts Network Marketing Business Model". homebusinessmag.com. 2017-01-24. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ "Wakaya Perfection visit results in positive discussions". fijisun.com.fj. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
- ^ "Founder of FIJI Water David H. Gilmour Launches Startup Cultivated from the Pure Volcanic Soil of His Private Island Wakaya". homebusinessmag.com. 2017-07-21. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
- ^ a b c Sandomir, Richard. "David Gilmour, Who Brought Fiji's Water to the Masses, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
- ^ a b Bertoni, Steven. "Fiji Water's David Gilmour Takes Aim At New Start Up". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
- ^ "NXIVM: Clare Bronfman $47 million Wakaya island (Fiji) a safe haven for LEADERS of NXIVM". TheSeason.org Christian Forum. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- ^ Robert Frank, 'Fiji Water Founder: Washington Is ‘Killing’ Entrepreneurs', in The Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2011 [5]
- ^ 'Bye, Bye, Fiji: Water Bottler Moving Out?', on CBS, November 29, 2010 [6]
- ^ "Man arrested and charged in grisly 1983 killings of 2 women in Toronto, police say | CBC News". cbc.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
- ^ "The Killer of Susan Tice and Erin Gilmour is Identified". DNASolves.com.