ALBRIGHTON, Shropshire — David J.C. Austin, the chairman who transformed a family rose nursery into a worldwide horticultural name, died last week at his home in Shropshire after a battle with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. He was 67.
Austin’s family confirmed the rare and incurable brain condition as the cause of death, saying he passed away peacefully surrounded by relatives. His passing marks the second loss of a patriarch for David Austin Roses in less than eight years, following the 2018 death of his father, company founder David C.H. Austin, at 92.
Building on a Father’s Vision
The younger Austin joined the family business in 1990, when the nursery was already gaining recognition for his father’s signature achievement: the English Rose. The elder Austin, a farmer’s son, had spent decades frustrated that modern hybrid tea roses had sacrificed fragrance and full-petaled form for extended blooming periods. His solution—crossing old garden varieties with repeat-flowering modern hybrids—produced a rose that bloomed repeatedly without losing its scent or romantic appearance.
David J.C. Austin took that innovation and built a global enterprise. Over more than three decades as chairman, he expanded operations far beyond the Shropshire fields where the company began. Today, David Austin Roses are grown under license and sold across continents, appearing in flower shows, florist windows, and, most prominently in recent years, wedding bouquets that have become a company hallmark.
“He never lost sight of what the business was actually for—the roses themselves,” colleagues said in a joint statement.
A Gardener First, Family Says
Those who worked alongside Austin described a man far more comfortable among plants than in the public eye. Modest and understated, he preferred walking trial beds to attending ceremonies.
His children—Richard, James and Olivia—said in a family statement that their father was, above all, a gardener. “He carried his own father’s vision forward with humility and an unwavering sense of responsibility,” they wrote. “He was kind, modest, with a playful streak and a real appetite for life. He met his illness with the same quiet courage he brought to everything else.”
The Royal Horticultural Society expressed deep sadness at the news. Gardening writer and broadcaster Monty Don noted Austin had left behind millions of exquisite roses that would outlive him—a tribute, he observed, that was literally true.
Online, hundreds of gardeners posted remembrances beneath the company’s announcement, many referencing Austin roses that had survived house moves, marriages, and decades.
Continuity for a Horticultural Institution
The company stated it will continue under its existing leadership team, working alongside the next generation of the Austin family—a third generation already close to the business.
David Austin Roses remains headquartered in the fields outside Albrighton, an unassuming nursery that began as one man’s pursuit of the perfect bloom. The elder Austin spent 75 years chasing that idea: that a rose should be beautiful, but that it should also smell like something. His son spent the rest of his life turning that conviction into a business capable of reaching gardens on every continent.
With his death, the company enters a new chapter for the first time without either of the two men most responsible for its global reach. But with the next generation already involved, the roses themselves are unlikely to notice the difference.