Victoria’s Secret founder Roy Raymond died in 1993.
Roy Larson Raymond was born in 1947 and founded Victoria’s Secret with his wife, Gaye, in 1977. The first store opened at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California, after Raymond became frustrated by the experience of buying lingerie in a department store.
The business struggled financially, and the Raymonds eventually sold Victoria’s Secret to Leslie Wexner in 1982. Under Wexner’s company, Limited Brands, the retailer expanded dramatically and became a major national lingerie brand. That later success can make it easy to overlook Raymond’s comparatively brief role in the company’s history.
Raymond died on August 26, 1993, at age 46, after jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. The year is sometimes confused with 1982, when he sold the company, or 1977, when Victoria’s Secret was founded.