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Hilary Weston

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Not to be confused with Hillary Weston.

The Honourable
Hilary Weston
CM CVO OOnt DStJ
Official portrait as lieutenant-governor of Ontario, 1997
26th Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario
In office
January 24, 1997 – March 7, 2002
MonarchElizabeth II
Governors GeneralRoméo LeBlanc
Adrienne Clarkson
PremierMike Harris
Preceded byHal Jackman
Succeeded byJames Bartleman
Personal details
Born
Hilary Mary Frayne

(1942-01-12)January 12, 1942
Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland
DiedAugust 2, 2025(2025-08-02) (aged 83)
London, England
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1966; died 2021)​
Children
Occupation
  • Fashion mogul
  • writer

Hilary Mary Weston CM CVO OOnt DStJ (née Frayne; January 12, 1942 – August 2, 2025) was an Irish–Canadian business mogul and writer who served as the 26th lieutenant-governor of Ontario from 1997 to 2002. During her five-year tenure, Weston focused on issues related to women, volunteerism and young people, drawing public attention to people working with the homeless, in hospices and as mentors to at-risk youth.

Biography

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Early life

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Hilary Mary Frayne was born on January 12, 1942, in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland.[1][2] Her parents William and Noel Frayne raised her and her four siblings in Dublin.[1] She was educated at Loreto Abbey, Dalkey.[3] Her father died when she was 17, so she helped support her family by working as a fashion model before marrying Galen Weston in 1966.[4] They moved to Toronto in 1971, and she became a Canadian citizen.[5] They had two children, Alannah and Galen Jr., and five grandchildren – two girls and a boy with Alannah and her husband Alex Cochrane (an interior architect), and two boys with Galen and his wife Alexandra.[6][7][8]

Business career

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Weston spent over two decades working in business and the fashion industry. As deputy chair of Holt Renfrew, she promoted Canadian design and merchandise.[9] During the same period, she also served as a director of Brown Thomas & Co. in Ireland.[5]

Lieutenant-governor of Ontario

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Prime minister Jean Chretien appointed Weston as lieutenant-governor of Ontario on December 12, 1996.[10] She was the second female to serve as Ontario's vice-regal, after Pauline Mills McGibbon was the first in 1974.[10] During her investiture ceremony, on January 24, 1997, she announced she would donate her $92,000 yearly salary to charity.[11] Her focus, as the province's 26th vice-regal, was to help young people, improve the status of women and extol the virtues of volunteer work.[12]

Charity work

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In 1979, Weston founded the Ireland Fund of Canada, a non-partisan, non-denominational organization that funds community projects in Ireland to promote peace. She continued to serve as an honorary patron of the organization for the rest of her life.[5]

An interest in early childhood education led Weston to serve as founding chair of the Mabin School in Toronto.[13] She also co-founded and chaired the Canadian Environment Educational Foundation,[14] and she established the Winter Garden Show at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.[15]

Weston explored her longstanding interest in homes and gardens as co-author of two best-selling books, In a Canadian Garden (1989) and At Home in Canada (1995).[16]

After her term as Lieutenant Governor, Weston spearheaded the most successful fundraising campaign in Canadian cultural history, which raised more than $250 million for the Royal Ontario Museum.[16] She was patron of several organizations dealing with social issues, such as the Abbeyfield House Society, the Hospice Association of Ontario, the Yonge Street Mission,[17] the Landmine Survivors Network (later known as Survivor Corps), the Ontario March of Dimes[18] and the Prince's Trust Canada.[19] Weston also devoted a significant proportion of her time, as well as her business and fashion expertise, to Selfridges, the London department store of which she was a director.[20]

Later life and death

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After a week of declining health, Weston died in London on August 2, 2025, at the age of 83. She had lived there in recent years.[21]

Honours

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Weston in 2014, wearing all of her ribbons except the CVO

As Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Weston automatically received the Order of Ontario (OOnt) in 1997,[22] and she served as ex officio Chancellor of the Order during her term in office.[23] She was also automatically invested as a Dame of Justice of the Venerable Order of St. John (DStJ) in 1997.[18]

Weston was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2003.[24] She received the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and automatically received the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.[25]

In the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order,[26] in recognition of donations by the Galen Weston Foundation made to the College of St. George at Windsor Castle.

Ten post-secondary institutions recognized Weston with honorary degrees, including the University of Western Ontario,[27] Concordia University,[18] University of St. Michael's College,[28] University of Toronto, Massey College,[29] Trinity College, Dublin[30] and University College Dublin.[31]

In 2009, Weston received the President's Award at the YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction Awards, for modelling leadership in public and private life.[32]

Ribbon bar

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Ribbon Description Notes
Order of Canada (CM) 2003[24]
Royal Victorian Order (CVO) 2015[26]
Order of St. John 1997
  • Dame of Justice
Order of Ontario (OOnt) 1997[22]
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal 2002
  • Canadian version
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal 2012
  • Canadian version

Arms

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Coat of arms of Hilary Weston
Notes
The arms of Hilary Weston consist of:[33]
Crest
Upon a helmet mantled Azure doubled Or within a wreath of these colours issuant from a coronet erablé Argent the rim bearing a frieze of trefoils Vert a demi lioness Gules the sinister paw resting on a wheat sheaf Or the dexter paw holding a closed book bound Or edged Gules.
Escutcheon
Or a fess Azure semé of Ermine spots Or between in chief two bees volant and in base a panpipe Azure.
Supporters
Two mares Or the dexter gorged with a wreath of roses Gules the sinister gorged with a collar of ash leaves Vert.
Compartment
A grassy mound Vert.
Motto
Suaviter in Modo Fortiter in Re

References

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  1. ^ a b "Hon. Hilary Mary Weston". The Globe and Mail. Toronto: The Woodbridge Company. August 9, 2025. p. B19. ISSN 0319-0714. Archived from the original on August 10, 2025. Retrieved August 10, 2025 – via Legacy.com.
  2. ^ Examiner Staff (August 4, 2025). "Tributes after death of Hilary Weston, the woman who helped build Penneys and Brown Thomas". Irish Examiner. Cork, Ireland: The Irish Times Trust GLG. ISSN 1393-9564. Archived from the original on August 10, 2025. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  3. ^ Independent Staff (January 15, 2018). "The Weston Family". Irish Independent. Dublin: Mediahuis Ireland. ISSN 0021-1222. Archived from the original on January 25, 2025. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  4. ^ Kirkup, Kristy; Woo, Andrea (August 3, 2025). "Philanthropist and former Ontario lieutenant-governor Hilary Weston dies at 83". The Globe and Mail. Toronto: The Woodbridge Company. ISSN 0319-0714. Archived from the original on August 4, 2025. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Malone, Emmet; Slater, Sarah (August 3, 2025). "Hilary Weston, who helped build Penneys and Brown Thomas, has died aged 83". Irish Times. Dublin: The Irish Times Trust GLG. ISSN 0791-5144. Archived from the original on August 3, 2025. Retrieved August 3, 2025.
  6. ^ "Alannah Weston". Companies House. Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  7. ^ Elfreda Pownall (November 1, 2016). "See inside one of south Kensington's grandest homes:19th century house with formal ballroom has been beautifully transformed for modern living". www.homesandproperty.co.uk. Archived from the original on August 10, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  8. ^ De Groot, Debby (May 11, 2011). "Writers' Trust of Canada Raises Literary Prize to New Heights: Sponsorship from the Honourable Hilary Weston Will Help Propel Prominence of Canadian Nonfiction" (Press release). Toronto: Writers' Trust of Canada. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  9. ^ Sousa, Aaron (August 3, 2025). "Hilary Weston, fashion mogul and former Ontario lieutenant-governor, dead at 83". The Canadian Press. Toronto. Archived from the original on August 4, 2025. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  10. ^ a b Tesher, Ellie (December 13, 1996). "From private privilege to public service". The Toronto Star. Torstar. pp. A1, A2. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved August 4, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Kastner, Susan (January 25, 1997). "Weston gives vice-regal pay to foundation". The Toronto Star. Torstar. pp. A10. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved August 4, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Mittelstaedt, Martin (January 25, 1997). "Weston will assist the young, women: New Lieutenant-Governor begins her term by donating annual $92,000 salary to charity". The Globe and Mail. Toronto: Thomson Corporation. p. A2. ISSN 0319-0714. ProQuest 1143609056. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  13. ^ Weston, Hillary M. (2007). No Ordinary Time: My Years As Ontario's Lieutenant Governor (PDF). Whitfield Editions. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-9781805-1-5.
  14. ^ Clarke, Stephanie (December 9, 2016). "Hilary Weston". Dolce. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  15. ^ "May 12 08 Gazette" (PDF). Queen's Digital Collections. Queen's Gazette. Vol. XXXIX, no. 9. Queen's University at Kingston. May 12, 2008. p. 3. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  16. ^ a b Paulin, Michèle (November 2008). "Honorary degree citation – Hilary M. Weston". Concordia University. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  17. ^ Dumont, Edith (August 3, 2025). "Lieutenant Governor's statement on the passing of the Honourable Hilary Weston". Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Retrieved August 4, 2025 – via Public now.
  18. ^ a b c "Honorary doctorate for Hilary Weston". Concordia Journal. Concordia University. November 6, 2008. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  19. ^ "Hilary Weston Tribute Event – Prince's Trust Canada". Dolce. December 10, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  20. ^ Stephenson, Madeline (December 7, 2011). "Hilary Weston: Art, Philanthropy, and the Family Name". Dolce. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  21. ^ Slater, Sarah (August 4, 2025). "Hilary Weston, businesswoman behind Penneys and Brown Thomas, dies aged 83". Extra.ie. Dublin: DMG Media. Archived from the original on August 10, 2025. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  22. ^ a b "The Order of Ontario". Government of Ontario. Archived from the original on October 25, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  23. ^ "Knighthoods to Canadians Page 02" (PDF). Canadian Orders Decorations and Medals. Blatherwick.net. October 5, 2023. p. 41. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  24. ^ a b Office of the Governor General of Canada. Order of Canada citation. Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  25. ^ "Writers' Trust of Canada Announces Finalists for $60,00 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction". NationTalk. September 20, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  26. ^ a b Treble, Patricia (May 7, 2018). "Who's invited to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding?". Maclean's. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  27. ^ Miner, John. "Mother joins daughter at Western convocation" (PDF). University of Western Ontario. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  28. ^ Burns, Mary Ellen, ed. (Spring 2002). "In This Issue" (PDF). DoubleBlue. Vol. 40, no. 1. University of St. Michael's College. p. 5. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  29. ^ "Galen & Hilary Weston Honored for Global Leadership in Business & Philanthropy". Yahoo Finance. April 8, 2014. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  30. ^ "Trinity honours seven wonder women". Irish Independent. July 10, 2004. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  31. ^ "UCD honours Ireland's greatest living playwright, Brian Friel with Ulysses Medal". University College Dublin News. June 16, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2025.
  32. ^ "Women of Distinction Awards" (PDF). YWCA Toronto. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 15, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  33. ^ Canadian Heraldic Authority (Volume III), Ottawa, 1998
[edit]
Government offices
Preceded by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
1997–2002 		Succeeded by
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