Sir Ralph Mark 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.
Ralph Halpern was born in October 1938[1] in London, after his Jewish parents fled from the Nazis in the 1930s and emigrated to England, losing their fortune.
[2][3] 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.
With brands including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, Principles, Racing Green and Evans, it was worth £1.8bn when Halpern was ousted by the board in 1991.
[7] 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.