Showing All of 77 results for "Businessmen"

Harold Ballard

Harold Ballard, hockey executive (born 30 July 1903 in Toronto, ON; died 11 April 1990 in To-ronto, ON). Ballard was a sports enthusiast from a young age and began running hockey teams in Toronto in the early 1930s. After helping to build a successful organization with the Toronto Marlboros in the 1940s and 1950s, Ballard became part of a seven-man committee running the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1957. He was one of three owners in control of the team when Toronto won the Stanley Cup four times in the 1960s, but after becoming principal owner in 1972, his bombastic, autocratic style contributed to the team’s decline on the ice. Ballard was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1977. He bought the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1978 and was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1987.

Czech Canadians

Canada is home to the second largest Czech diaspora after the United States. Today, Czech Canadians form an ethnocultural community with a rich history dating back to the 1880s.

Frank Calder

Frank Arthur Calder, OC, Nisga’a politician, chief, businessman (born 3 August 1915, Nass Harbour, BC; died 4 November 2006 in Victoria, BC). Frank Calder was the first Indigenous member of a Canadian legislature, elected in 1949 during the BC general election. Calder is best known for his role in the Nisga’a Tribal Council’s Supreme Court case against the province of British Columbia (commonly known as the Calder case), which demonstrated that Aboriginal title (i.e., ownership) to traditional lands exists in modern Canadian law.

Michael Lee-Chin

Michael Lee-Chin, businessman, investor and philanthropist (born 3 January 1951 in Port Antonio, Jamaica). Lee-Chin is president and chairman of Portland Holdings, a private investment company. According to Canadian Business magazine, Lee-Chin has an estimated net worth of more than $3.95 billion (as of 2017) and was ranked the 20th wealthiest Canadian. He is also one of the richest Jamaicans. Lee-Chin is also a dedicated philanthropist and has pledged and donated more than $60 million to hospitals, universities and, most notably, the Royal Ontario Museum, where the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal is named in honour of his $30-million pledge.

Denham Jolly

Brandeis Denham Jolly, teacher, entrepreneur, publisher, broadcaster, philanthropist, civil rights activist, community leader (born 26 August 1935 in Industry Cove, Jamaica). Jolly began his business career by purchasing and operating rooming houses and nursing homes. He later purchased and became the publisher of Contrast, a Black community newspaper in Toronto and established FLOW 93.5, the first Black-owned radio station and the first station in Canada to showcase Black music and the stories of the Black community. Jolly also was involved with or founded and led community groups — such as the Black Action Defence Committee — that sought to end police violence targeting young Black men. Jolly also contributed generously to several causes including scholarships for promising young Black Canadians.

Prem Watsa

V. Prem Watsa, CM, businessman, investor (born 7 August 1950, in Hyderabad, India). Watsa emerged from modest beginnings to found and develop one of the most prominent financial holding companies in Canada, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., of which he is chairman and chief executive officer. Fairfax is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, as well as investment management. Among the companies Fairfax either owns, or owns enough shares to give it controlling interest, are Sporting Life, William Ashley, and Prime Restaurants, which has many chains including East Side Mario’s. Fairfax also has investments and owns insurance and other companies in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Brazil, Poland, Malaysia, Singapore, Barbados and Hong Kong. In 2016, it had revenues of $12.3 billion and held $58.3 billion in assets. Watsa is sometimes called Canada’s Warren Buffett for his shrewd investment practices. According to Forbes, he had an estimated net worth of over $1.08 billion (as of 2017) and was ranked the 31st wealthiest Canadian.

Herb Belcourt

Herbert Clifford (Herb) Belcourt, CM, entrepreneur, philanthropist (born 6 July 1931 in Lac Ste. Anne, AB; died 5 July 2017 in Sherwood Park, AB). Belcourt was a celebrated Métis philanthropist and businessman recognized for starting several successful businesses in Edmonton and Sherwood Park, including Belcourt Construction, which became one of the largest power line companies in Alberta. Belcourt was also a philanthropist who gave back to the Métis community of Alberta through affordable housing and education bursaries.

Tim Horton

Miles Gilbert (Tim) Horton, hockey player, entrepreneur (born 12 January 1930 in Cochrane, ON; died 17 February 1974 in St. Catharines, ON).

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Joe Mimran

Joseph Mimran, entrepreneur, consultant, fashion designer, retailer (born 2 December 1952 in Casablanca, Morocco). Mimran is best-known for launching the Alfred Sung, Club Monaco and Joe Fresh fashion brands, as well as his involvement with Pink Tartan, a fashion line designed by Kimberley Newport-Mimran, his second wife. Mimran is a partner at Gibraltar Ventures, a Toronto-based firm that invests in technology-driven companies. He also appears as a Dragon on the CBC series Dragons’ Den.

Charles Bronfman

Charles Rosner Bronfman, PC, CC, businessman and philanthropist (born 27 June 1931 in Montréal, QC). Bronfman was co-chairman of the Bronfman family business, Seagram, the world’s largest producer and distributor of distilled spirits. He also owned the Montreal Expos baseball club from 1968 to 1990. According to Forbes, Bronfman had an estimated net worth of over $2 billion (as of 2017) and was ranked the 16th wealthiest Canadian and 896th wealthiest person in the world. Bronfman is also a dedicated philanthropist. He established the CRB Foundation to promote study of Canadian and Jewish affairs, and co-founded and endowed the Historica Foundation of Canada, which later became Historica Canada (publisher of The Canadian Encyclopedia). He has disbursed approximately $325 million through Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies Inc. (ACBP) and private donations.

Ted Rogers

Edward Samuel (Ted) Rogers Jr., OC, founder and CEO of Rogers Communications, businessman, philanthropist (born 27 May 1933 in Toronto, ON; died 2 December 2008 in Toronto, ON). Rogers was a pioneer in the Canadian communications industry who established Rogers Communications. At the time of his death in 2008, Rogers was the fourth-richest Canadian, with a net worth of over $7 billion, while the company was worth $18 billion and employed roughly 29,000 people. Rogers Communications owned Canada’s largest wireless telecommunications company and cable TV company; 52 radio stations; numerous TV stations (including CityTV, OMNI, Sportsnet and The Shopping Channel); more than 70 consumer and trade magazines (including Maclean’s, Chatelaine and Flare); and the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome).

Donald MacLaren

Donald Roderick MacLaren, fighter pilot, war hero, businessman (born 28 May 1893 in Ottawa, ON; died 4 July 1988 in Burnaby, BC). A First World War fighter ace, MacLaren was credited with 54 air victories in less than eight months — an unparalleled record.

Jim Balsillie

James Laurence (Jim) Balsillie, co-CEO of Research In Motion, business executive, chartered professional accountant, philanthropist (born 3 February 1961 in Seaforth, ON). Balsillie is best known as the former chairman and co-CEO of Research In Motion, the Waterloo, Ontario, company now known as BlackBerry. He is also a major philanthropist and the founder of numerous non-profit organizations, including the Arctic Research Foundation (which found one of the lost Franklin ships in 2016), the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the Centre for International Governance Innovation. An avid hockey fan, Balsillie tried on three separate occasions to purchase an NHL team and move it to Hamilton, Ontario.

John Molson

He also entered the lumber business during the building boom of the early 1800s, built a hotel and in 1821 established the colony's first distillery and financed the CHAMPLAIN AND SAINT LAWRENCE RAILROAD, the first railway in Canada.

Bertram Hoffmeister

Bertram (Bert) Meryl Hoffmeister, soldier, businessman (born 15 May 1907 in Vancouver, BC; died 4 December 1999 in Vancouver).

Louis Rasminsky

Louis Rasminsky, banker (b at Montréal 1 Feb 1908; d at Ottawa 15 Sept 1998). Rasminsky played a major role in creating the post-WWII international monetary system.

Arthur James Edward Child

Arthur James Edward Child, business executive (b at Guildford, Eng 19 May 1910; d at Calgary 30 July 1996). He was educated at Queen's, Harvard Business School and the University of Toronto.

Sam Katz

Samuel Michael Katz, businessman, mayor of Winnipeg 2004–2014 (born 20 August, 1951 in Rehovot, Israel). An entrepreneur and owner of the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team, Katz was elected Winnipeg’s first Jewish mayor in June 2004. The latter half of his administration was marked by controversy over city real estate deals.

Bernard Lord

Bernard Lord, lawyer, businessman, premier of New Brunswick 1999-2006 (born 27 September 1965 in Roberval, QC). After becoming New Brunswick's youngest elected premier at age 33, Lord successfully revised the province's Official Languages Act and introduced widely praised measures to improve bilingual services.

Joseph Emm Seagram

Joseph Emm Seagram, distiller, turfman, politician (b at Fisher Mills [near Cambridge], Ont 15 Apr 1841; d at Waterloo, Ont 18 Aug 1919).

Victor Melnikoff

Victor Michael Melnikoff, lawyer, dance gala impresario (born at Shanghai, China 10 Feb 1944, died at Montréal 6 April 2010). Victor Melnikoff was the second of 3 sons born to Mikhail Melnikoff and Faina Rubin, Russian émigrés in Shanghai, where Mikhail operated a photography studio.

Corliss Powers Walker

Corliss Powers Walker, "C.P.," theatre manager and impresario (b at Poultney, Vermont 19 September 1853; d at Winnipeg 24 September 1942).

Guy Laliberté

Guy Laliberté, OC, OQ, street performer, businessman (born 2 September 1959 in St-Bruno, QC). Laliberté is the fire-breathing accordionist and stilt-walking founder of Cirque du Soleil. He transformed a small band of Québec buskers and street musicians into a performing organization of international repute. Laliberté is also the founder of the One Drop Foundation and in September 2009, he became the first Canadian space tourist.

Joseph Pierre Roméo Vachon

Joseph Pierre Roméo Vachon, pilot, airline executive (b at Ste-Marie-de-la-Beauce, Qué 29 June 1898; d at Ottawa 17 Dec 1954). After service in the RCNVR during WWI, Vachon joined Laurentide Air Service in 1921 and in 1924-25 performed an aerial survey of Québec's North Shore.

Maxwell William Ward

Maxwell William Ward, aviator, businessman (b at Edmonton 22 Nov 1921). He joined the RCAF in 1940 and served as a flight instructor during WWII. Max Ward worked as a bush pilot after the war and made an outstanding contribution