In 1963, Alexander succeeded his elder brother, Leslie (1907-1963), to become chairman of the Cussons Company.
He had extensive experience in company finance, having served as a director for the Rothschild family business.
[7][8] He was also a member of the World Wildlife Fund and knew the leading conservationist Sir Peter Scott.
He wished to preserve vulnerable and endangered species and considered starting a breeding program in South Africa to help against the threat of extinction.
Cussons had many interests, one of which was maritime history and he commissioned a collection of ship models by Donald McNarry.
McNarry took eight years to build the collection which featured ships that had sailed round the South African Cape.
He had a large collection of Chinese snuff bottles from the Qing dynasty,[13][14] which were featured in a number of publications.
[15][16] Cussons was interested in Roman history, and was involved in campaigning and fundraising for reconstruction efforts on Hadrian's Wall,[17][18] located at Housesteads.