Mary Perkins sold for £2 million in 1980, and continue to receive income from. After the sale the couple moved to Guernsey, where Mary's father had retired. Mary and Doug Perkins established Specsavers in Guernsey in 1984. In 2007 it was the largest privately owned opticians in the world, with nearly 900 stores across the UK and Europe. By 2011 the company had an annual turnover of £1.5bn and over 30,000 staff in markets in the UK, Europe and Australasia. Her current title at Specsavers is "founder". Dame Mary sits on the company board, oversees business development and has particular responsibility for
Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics The Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics is an endowed professorship established at Harvard College in 1842 by James Perkins, Jr., (1761–1822). James Perkins, Jr., was a Boston philanthropist, benefactor of the Boston Athenæum, and co-founder with his younger brother Thomas Handasyd Perkins of the Perkins School for the Blind. In his will, Perkins left $20,000 to Harvard College to establish a chair in "whatever field the President and Fellows should find the most useful". The funds were transferred to Harvard on February 20, 1842, upon the death of Perkins' wife. At that time