Career
One of seven siblings in a devoutly Catholic family, in 1964 Farmer founded his own tyre retailing business which he sold in 1969 for £450,000. Farmer retired to the United States, but became bored and decided to find a new challenge. He returned to Edinburgh to found the Kwik-Fit chain of garages in 1971.
The firm grew quickly, mainly through acquisition, including opening in the Netherlands in 1975.
Farmer was named Scottish Businessman of the Year in 1989. After building the chain to become the world"s largest independent tyre and automotive repair specialists with over 2,000 centres operating in 18 different countries, Farmer sold the firm to Ford in 1999 for more than £1 billion.
In 2006, he donated £100,000 to the Scottish National Party to help fund their campaign for the 2007 Scottish Parliament general election. Farmer commented at the time that it was not an indication of his political allegiance but that he wanted the Scottish National Party to be able to compete financially with their better-funded political opponents.
Farmer repeated his endorsement for the Scottish National Party in the 2011 election.
He was also knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1997. He is a supporter of the international development charity Mary"s meals. Farmer owns 90% of Hibernian, a professional football club based in Edinburgh.
He invested nearly £3 million to rescue the club from receivership and he continued to fund developments of Easter Road and financial losses made by the club
Farmer has admitted that he has no great love of football, and he rarely attends matches. Farmer has delegated control of Hibs to other figures, such as Rod Petrie.
Farmer also owns the island of Inchkeith in the Firth of Forth. In 2007 after Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh was awarded full university status, he was named as founding Chancellor having been associated with the institution for several years.