Joan Branson, Wife Of British Billionaire Richard Branson, Dead At 80
Joan Branson, wife of British billionaire Richard Branson, passed away at the age of 80.
Branson announced his death Tuesday on Instagram and LinkedIn.
No other details were released.
“I am deeply saddened to share that Joan, my wife and partner of 50 years, has passed away,” he said. “She was the most amazing mother and grandmother our children and grandchildren could ever ask for. She was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world.”
Richard Branson is the founder of the airline Virgin Atlantic, space tourism company Virgin Galactic, and satellite launcher Virgin Orbit.
One 2020 blog postHe said he met Joan in 1976 at The Manor, a recording studio in Oxfordshire, England.
“Joan was a down-to-earth Scottish woman and I quickly realized she would not be impressed by my usual antics,” Branson wrote.
He said he worked at an antique store that sold old signs and advertisements.
“I wandered around the front of the store uncertainly, then mustered the courage to go inside. … My visits to Joan over the next few weeks left me with an impressive collection of vintage, hand-painted tin signs advertising everything from Hovis bread to Woodbine cigarettes,” Branson wrote.
The couple had three children, Holly, Sam and Sarah Clare. Sarah Clare died shortly after her birth in 1979.
