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Scion of the great Quaker chocolate dynasty, Adrian Cadbury (1929-2015) was educated at Eton and Cambridge, yet never quite fitted into the mould of the British establishment. As one of the most influential business personalities of the later 20th-century, he was a committed capitalist, but championed workers’ rights and backed numerous social causes. By his death, he had given most of his fortune away. To most people, however, his private life remained a closed book, overshadowed by a string of family tragedies and the eventual hostile take-over of his world famous family-owned business. The Cadbury Report, his pioneering work on corporate governance remains his greatest legacy, but Adrian Cadbury’s career ranged far wider. With 2024 marking Cadbury’s 200th anniversary, this is his first biography, and one drawn from interviews with the family and those who knew him. He was a huge public figure of his era – but few at the time understood the tragedy in his life, or how hard-won were the successes he achieved.
Scion of the great Quaker chocolate dynasty, Adrian Cadbury (1929-2015) was educated at Eton and Cambridge, yet never quite fitted into the mould of the British establishment. As one of the most influential business personalities of the later 20th-century, he was a committed capitalist, but championed workers’ rights and backed numerous social causes. By his death, he had given most of his fortune away. To most people, however, his private life remained a closed book, overshadowed by a string of family tragedies and the eventual hostile take-over of his world famous family-owned business. The Cadbury Report, his pioneering work on corporate governance remains his greatest legacy, but Adrian Cadbury’s career ranged far wider. With 2024 marking Cadbury’s 200th anniversary, this is his first biography, and one drawn from interviews with the family and those who knew him. He was a huge public figure of his era – but few at the time understood the tragedy in his life, or how hard-won were the successes he achieved.