ALBRIGHTON, England — The man who transformed his father’s passion for the perfect English rose into an internationally recognized horticultural brand has died at his home in Shropshire. David J.C. Austin, chairman of David Austin Roses, was 67.
Austin died surrounded by family after a battle with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and incurable brain condition, his family announced this week. His death marks the second time in eight years that the family-run business has lost the guiding figure at its center; his father, David C.H. Austin, died in December 2018 at age 92.
From Niche Nursery to Global Name
Austin joined the family firm in 1990, stepping into a company that was already gaining recognition under his father’s leadership. The elder Austin — a farmer’s son who spent decades perfecting what he called the “English Rose” — had solved what he saw as a fundamental flaw in modern roses: While newer varieties bloomed all summer, they had lost their fragrance, fullness and romantic character. By crossing old garden roses with contemporary hybrids, he created blooms that offered both beauty and scent.
It fell to the son to scale that vision into a global enterprise. Over more than three decades as chairman, Austin expanded the business far beyond the fields outside Albrighton. Today, David Austin Roses are grown under license and sold across continents, appearing at flower shows, in florist windows and, most visibly, in the nostalgic bridal bouquets that became a house signature.
Those who worked alongside him say he never lost focus on what mattered most: the roses themselves.
A Gardener First
If the company’s founder was a reluctant public figure who preferred to let his flowers speak for him, his son inherited that same instinct. Colleagues describe Austin as someone more comfortable in a greenhouse than in the spotlight — modest, understated, happiest walking the trial beds.
His children — Richard, James and Olivia — said in a family statement that their father was first and foremost a gardener. “He carried his own father’s vision forward with humility and an unwavering sense of responsibility, always placing the roses, the business and its people ahead of himself,” they wrote. “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.”
Tributes poured in from across the horticultural world. The Royal Horticultural Society expressed deep sadness at the news. Broadcaster and gardening writer Monty Don noted that Austin had left behind “millions of exquisite roses that will go on living long after him.” Online, hundreds of gardeners shared memories of David Austin roses that had outlasted house moves, marriages and decades — all traceable back to the small Shropshire nursery.
Carrying On the Legacy
The company has said it will continue under its existing leadership team, working alongside the next generation of the Austin family. With a third generation already close to the business, the transition appears designed to ensure continuity.
The timing carries a certain melancholy: It has been less than eight years since David C.H. Austin died after 75 years of pursuing the conviction that a rose should be beautiful but 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 — without ever losing his father’s sense of what actually mattered.
With his death, the company enters a new chapter for the first time without either of the two men most responsible for making it what it is. But as one longtime grower noted, the roses themselves are unlikely to notice the difference.
David Austin Roses offers a online catalog and mail-order service for home gardeners, as well as a visitor center and gardens in Albrighton that draw thousands of visitors annually.