John F. McGuire, who died on March 22nd aged 70, was the heir to the family-owned Brown Thomas department store in Dublin's Grafton St. He was the elder son of Senator Edward (Ned) McGuire, a stylish innovator who sought to combine commercial concerns with an aesthetic dimension.
Born in Dublin on May 4th, 1929, his grandfather, John F. McGuire, had run a successful drapery business in Waterford, and took over the Brown Thomas department store from Selfridges in the early 1930s. John McGuire's mother was Bridget (Billie) Neary, from Newry. He was brought up in Montrath in Foxrock, and later in Newtown Park House, in Blackrock. He was educated at St Gerard's in Bray, and at Downside, in Somerset.
He went into the family business in 1947 after leaving school and was appointed joint managing director of Brown Thomas in 1954. Initially he was involved with the company in only a marginal way.
His first venture outside Brown Thomas was the setting up of John McGuire Limited which took over the Todd Burns store in Mary St, Dublin.
His company had a wholesale, as well as a retail side and traded as Todco. John McGuire was responsible for introducing some "bargain basement" ideas, such as using check-outs and having customers carry baskets around the store. Other Todco stores were opened in Grafton St in Dublin and in Cork.
He wanted to have a grocery element in Todco in Mary St, and this eventually led him to his first contact with Galen Weston, who was becoming involved with Pat Quinn in the new Quinnsworth chain of stores.
Always keen on expansion, John McGuire opened the Gaywear chain of stores - which went on to become A-Wear. In 1965 Brown Thomas made a reverse take-over bid for the Cork company, T. Lyons and the enlarged company was renamed the Brown Thomas Group with John McGuire as its managing director.
Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s his father, Edward McGuire had given the Brown Thomas shop in Grafton St an international dimension by introducing top designers such as Christian Dior. He concentrated on creating a "beautiful" shop, and involved the painter Norah McGuinness in dressing the prominent shop windows.
John McGuire attempted to introduce greater efficiency and work practices into the department store, which was running into serious financial difficulties. Among the moves undertaken by the group during his tenure was the take-over of Imco dry-cleaners in March 1966, a failed attempt to take over Cannock in Limerick in 1969, and a bid to shape Brown Thomas's regional outlets in the Grafton St mould.
But despite John McGuire's energy, the realities of the retail trade were changing and the company was bought out by Galen Weston in 1971. John McGuire continued to pursue his interest in art. His brother was the artist and portraitist Edward McGuire and John McGuire had had a gallery in Brown Thomas selling the works of distinguished Irish artists.
He opened the Setanta Gallery in Molesworth St in 1973, which specialised in selling limited editions of signed prints of paintings. It was not a long-term business success and he moved to London, where he was involved in a series of smaller business ventures.
Well-known on the Dublin social scene, John McGuire played fine tennis as a youth, was a keen sailor, and an experienced ocean voyager. He was a member of the Royal St George Yacht Club, in Dun Laoghaire.
He was married to Birgitta Wennerberg, the daughter of a Swedish ambassador to Ireland. The couple had three children and lived in a Gandon villa, Emsworth, near Malahide. They were later divorced and John McGuire married Myrtle Weston. He lived in London for the latter years of his life.
He is survived by his wife Myrtle, his children Astrid, Edmund and Patrick, his step-daughter Erica, and his sisters Barbara and Avril.
John Francis McGuire: born 1929; died March, 2000.