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When US businessman Gideon Hixon started his lumber business more than 160 years ago, little did he probably know that his family wealth would grow across two World Wars, face potential ruin on numerous occasions, sustain and challenge six-going-on-seven generations and diversify into exciting and unexpected avenues.

Family-owned Marshall Amplification sold to Sweden’s Zound Industries
The UK-based Marshall Amplification, which was founded by Jim Marshall (pictured left) and his son Terry in 1962 and has since gone on to become the amp of choice for some of the world's most famous musicians, has been acquired by the Swedish firm Zound Industries.

The agreement, which will see all Marshall brands and Zound Industries rebranded as the newly formed Marshall Group, will see the Marshall family retaining 24%, making them the largest shareholders.

“I wanted to write a book that I would have liked to read when I started out,” says fifth-generation family business owner, family talent advisor and successor development coach and mentor, Philip Mackeown of his reasons for penning The Successor’s Voice.

Throughout his storied career, Dr. David Brown has made significant contributions to medical research within the pharmaceutical industry, but perhaps his most famous innovation came about through a chance observation when the angina medication he was working on had unexpected applications.

While working for Pfizer, he was named co-inventor on the patent for Viagra and, for eight years, led the team that developed the hugely successful erectile dysfunction medication into one of the bonanza breakthroughs of the century.