FAMOUS FACES REMEMBER THE ANN SUMMERS BOSS
REPORT: ROSALIND POWELL
1960–2023
F amily and friends including TV presenter Eamonn Holmes and actress Charlie Brooks bade a final farewell to Ann Summers executive chair Jacqueline Gold last week.
Stars gathered at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, South London, for a celebration of life service for the businesswoman, who died from breast cancer last month aged 62.
A hearse filled with flowers pulled up at the historic building before pallbearers carried a coffin etched with the Ann Summers rabbit logo up the steps and into the 18th-century Painted Hall.
“There was so much love in the room for her,” Jacqueline’s widower Dan Cunningham tells HELLO!. “We were lucky enough to attend a party there last summer – I remember she fell in love with the Painted Hall immediately. It was the perfect venue to host her celebration of life.”
Sharing a video of the service with tributes on social media, the lingerie brand wrote it had been “a beautiful day remembering our leader, Jacqueline Gold CBE”.
It added that her legacy would “live on forever, you will always inspire us, we will always strive to make you proud. Love always, your Ann Summers family.”
EastEnders star Charlie said: “Jacqueline Gold is an absolute queen and she is a soul that I am going to miss so deeply.” She added on Instagram: “The kindest woman I was lucky to have known. Thank you for paving the way.”
Jacqueline was credited not only with transforming Ann Summers, which she built up from four shops into a multimillion-pound business, but for championing women in the fashion retail industry.
The first Ann Summers store opened in London in 1971, before being bought the following year by Jacqueline’s father David, who rose from poverty to become the co-chairman of West Ham United.
EMPOWERING WOMEN
Jacqueline started as an intern in the company and, in 1981, came up with the idea of Ann Summers at-home parties to make the brand more female friendly. Her leadership led to the firm opening stores across the UK, with annual sales reaching £113.8m.
“When I joined Ann Summers, its customer profile was only 10 per cent women,” she
