Ralph Halpern

Sir Ralph Mark Halpern (born Ralph Marcel Halpern; 24 October 1938 – 10 August 2022) was a British businessman, who was the founder of Topshop and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Burton Group from 1979 to 1991.

Early life Ralph Marcel Halpern was born in Hendon, Middlesex, England on 24 October 1938, after his Jewish parents fled from the Nazis in the 1930s and emigrated to England, losing their fortune.

Career Halpern joined Burton Group as a management trainee in 1961, and was directly involved in the establishment of Top Shop (above a Peter Robinson branch) in 1964.

Personal life and death Halpern was knighted for "services to the retail industry" in the 1986 Birthday Honours. He married Joan Donkin in 1967. They had a daughter, Jenny Halpern Prince, and divorced in 1999. In 1987, he was linked by the British tabloids to a liaison with the page 3 model Fiona Wright, leading to a "five times a night" headline. He and Laura were subsequently divorced in Miami in 2007.

Halpern died in Florida on 10 August 2022, at the age of 83.