Roy Raymond

Roy Raymond (1947 to 1993) was an American businessman who founded the Victoria's Secret lingerie retail store in California in 1977. Born in Connecticut, he graduated from Tufts University and earned an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, then worked in marketing at several companies. He started Victoria's Secret with his wife Gaye, opening the first store at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto after feeling embarrassed buying lingerie in a department store, and added a mail order catalog and three more stores. In 1982 he sold the company to Leslie Wexner for one million dollars. His later ventures, including the children's store My Child's Destiny and the book store Quinby's, did not succeed, and My Child's Destiny entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1986. He died in 1993.