Ann Summers lingerie chain boss Jacqueline Gold dies at 62

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Jacqueline Gold, who helped make lingerie and sex toys a female-friendly mainstream business as head of Britain’s Ann Summers chain, has died. She was 62 and had been diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago. Gold’s family said Friday that she died on Thursday with close family by her side. Gold joined the sex shop chain owned by her father and transformed it. She ditched the shops’ forbidding men-only atmosphere, with female-friendly products sold through women-only, at-home gatherings inspired by Tupperware parties. Ann Summers became a familiar feature of the British high street, with more than 80 stores nationwide. Gold said in 2018 that “female empowerment has always been at the heart of everything we do.”