Richard Branson and his mother Eve Branson
Clive Rose | Getty Images
LONDON – The founder of Virgin, Richard Branson, published in a tribute blog on Monday that his mother, Eve, died of the coronavirus.
Branson said Eve, who was 96 when she died, “held one last victory and managed to fight the virus, but spent all her energy in the process.”
Branson said that instead of mourning her loss, he wanted to “celebrate her wonderful life, her great spirit, the joy she has brought to so many people, and the love she has given us all.”
In dedication to his mother, Branson said he owed his career to her. He explained that Eve found a necklace in the sixties and after the police had her jewelry kept because no one claimed it, she sold it and gave the money to him.
“Without that £ 100 ($ 135) I would never have been able to start Virgin,” said Branson, who founded the now multimillion-dollar conglomerate in 1970.
Branson said Eva and his father Edward, who passed away in 2011, taught him and his two sisters how important it is to work hard, not to take yourself too seriously, to treat people the way you want to be treated. of entrepreneurship and so much more. ”
The founder of Virgin described his mother as a ‘natural force’ who lived ‘many remarkable lives’, and recounted how she followed gliding lessons disguised as a boy. She also joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service, known as the “Wrens”, during World War II.
After the war, Eve toured Germany as a ballet dancer, performing on stage in London’s West End and working as an air hostess on the ‘treacherous’ British South American Airways routes.
Branson said his mother was “resourceful, fearless, relentless – an entrepreneur before the word existed.”
His mother was also the founder of the Eve Branson Foundation, a small non-profit organization that aims to improve the lives of women and young girls in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco, and provide access to education and health care.