Mark Pears

Mark Andrew Pears CBE (born 1962) is a British billionaire businessman, CEO of the privately held William Pears Group since 1984.

Mark Andrew Pears was born in 1962, the son of Clive Pears and Clarice Talisman Castle (1933–1999). Clarice Talisman Castle was born in and grew up in Lochside Street, Shawlands, Glasgow, the daughter of Abraham Castle, a dealer in electrical and wireless appliances, and his wife Hannah.

He grew up in Hendon and was educated at the City of London School and Harvard Business School.

The William Pears Group was founded in 1952, by his grandfather Bernard Pears (who changed his name from Schleicher on emigrating from Austria) and his father Clive Pears, and is run by Mark Pears with his younger brothers Trevor and David.

Mark Pears has run the company since his father died in 1984, when he was aged 21.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Pears won't allow his photo to be taken, or say which of the 212 companies of which he is a director, a "complex labyrinth of operating and investment companies", is the main holding company or what the group's annual profit might be.

In 2014, he had a net worth of £2.1 billion.

In 1987, he married Debra Groves at the Western Marble Arch Synagogue. They live in Totteridge, London.

In 1992, he founded the Pears Foundation, together with brothers. In the year to April 2014, it donated £17.1 million to various causes.

He was awarded a CBE in the 2014 Queen's birthday honours list, "For services to Business and to Charity".