diff --git a/src/osx/carbon/font.cpp b/src/osx/carbon/font.cpp
index e206e2816d..b8db24c946 100644
--- a/src/osx/carbon/font.cpp
+++ b/src/osx/carbon/font.cpp
@@ -779,7 +779,8 @@ void wxNativeFontInfo::InitFromFont(CTFontRef font)
 {
     Init();
 
-    InitFromFontDescriptor(CTFontCopyFontDescriptor(font) );
+    wxCFRef<CTFontDescriptorRef> desc(CTFontCopyFontDescriptor(font));
+    InitFromFontDescriptor( desc );
 }
 
 void wxNativeFontInfo::InitFromFontDescriptor(CTFontDescriptorRef desc)
@@ -787,6 +788,7 @@ void wxNativeFontInfo::InitFromFontDescriptor(CTFontDescriptorRef desc)
     Init();
 
     m_descriptor.reset(wxCFRetain(desc));
+    int count = CFGetRetainCount(desc);
 
     m_ctWeight = GetCTWeight(desc);
     m_ctWidth = GetCTwidth(desc);
@@ -1065,6 +1067,7 @@ bool wxNativeFontInfo::FromString(const wxString& s)
         if (descriptor != NULL)
         {
             InitFromFontDescriptor(descriptor);
+            CFRelease(descriptor);
             m_underlined = underlined;
             m_strikethrough = strikethrough;
             m_encoding = encoding;