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Create AccountSidney Smith Shatford, business executive (b at Hubbards, NS 1 Dec 1864; d at Halifax 8 June 1956). In partnership with his brother, he founded NS's first oil business.
Sidney Robert Carter, art and antique dealer, photographer (b at Toronto 18 Feb 1880; d at Montréal 27 Mar 1956). Carter was an early advocate of pictorialism in photography, and by 1901-02 was exhibiting in London, the US and Canada.
Jean Coutu, O.C., O.Q., pharmacist, entrepreneur and philanthropist (born 29 May 1927 in Montreal, Quebec). Jean Coutu is the founder of the Jean Coutu Group, a chain of pharmacies established in 1969 under the name Pharm-Escomptes Jean Coutu. He is also the cofounder of the Marcelle and Jean Coutu Foundation, a private charitable foundation. Jean Coutu has received many honours and awards recognizing both his career and his philanthropy.
Thomas Edward Millidge, vessel owner and builder (b probably at Saint John 18 Dec 1814; d there 5 Aug 1894). He was the principal 19th-century registrant of newly built tonnage at Saint John Port of Registry.
Cyrus Albert Birge, industrialist (b near Oakville, Ont 7 Nov 1847; d at Hamilton, Ont 14 Dec 1929). After early careers as a merchant and an accountant for the Great Western Raiway, Birge became manager of the American-owned Canada Screw Co at Dundas, Ontario in 1882.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on May 25, 1998. Partner content is not updated.
Montreal's Bronfman family is no stranger to controversy. After arriving in Canada from Russia in the 1890s, they made a fortune outrunning federal tax collectors and selling whisky to American mobsters. The next generation made headlines tussling over control of the family firm, Seagram Co. Ltd.William Cameron Edwards, industrialist, politician (b in Clarence Twp, Russell County, Canada W 7 May 1844; d at Ottawa 17 Sept 1921). Edwards entered the lumbering business in Thurso but moved to Rockland in 1868 and founded W.C.
Thomas F. Ryan, businessman, sports promoter (b at Guelph, Ont 1872; d at Toronto 19 Nov 1961). He introduced the first 10-pin BOWLING alley in Canada and attracted many prominent businessmen and professionals to his downtown Toronto facility.
John A. Flett, carpenter, trade-union organizer (b at Hamilton 1860; d there 19 Mar 1941). Flett began a long, distinguished labour career in his local carpenters' union.
Henry Birks, silversmith, founder of Henry Birks and Sons (b at Montréal 30 Nov 1840; d there 16 Apr 1928). He graduated from Montreal High School in 1856 and spent the next winter perfecting his French. In April 1857 he joined Savage and Lyman, a large firm of watchmakers and jewellers.
Robert Hobson, industrialist (b at Berlin [Kitchener], Canada W 13 Aug 1861; d at Hamilton, Ont 25 Feb 1926). Hobson worked first for the Grand Trunk Railway and in 1896 he became secretary-treasurer of the Hamilton Blast Furnace Co.
Stephen Juba, businessman, Manitoba MLA 1953-59, mayor of Winnipeg 1957-77 (b at Winnipeg 1 July 1914; d at Petersfield, Man 2 May 1993).
Leon Joseph Koerner, lumberman, philanthropist (b at Nový Hrozenkov, Austria-Hungary [Czechoslovakia] 24 May 1892; d at Vancouver 26 Sept 1972).
John Lyons Agnew, mine executive (b at Pittsburgh, Pa 28 July 1884; d at Copper Cliff, Ont 9 July 1931). Agnew attended Pittsburgh schools and worked as a labourer in the steel mills before joining International Nickel's Canadian operations at Copper Cliff in 1904.
Alexander Rankin, timber merchant, politician (b in parish of Mearns, Scot 31 Dec 1788; d at Liverpool, Eng 3 Apr 1852). Rankin became a clerk in the firm of Pollok, Gilmour and Co, Glasgow merchants who traded with the Baltic ports.
Walter Stanley Monroe, businessman, politician (b at Dublin, Ire 14 May 1871; d at St John's 6 Oct 1952). He was Newfoundland's eighteenth prime minister, June 1924-August 1928; his newly constituted party swept to power, ending Albert HICKMAN's brief prime ministership.
Sir William Johnson, merchant, fur trader, colonial official (born ca. 1715 in Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland; died 11 July 1774 in Johnson Hall, near Johnstown, NY).
Michael John Savage, businessman, politician, mayor of Halifax, 2012 to present (born 13 May 1960 in Belfast, Northern Ireland). Savage, whose father was premier of Nova Scotia in the 1990s, served as a member of Parliament before becoming mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality.
Michael Stadtländer, CM, chef, restaurateur, environmental activist, artist (born 1947 in Lubeck, Germany). A Member of the Order of Canada, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Leadership and named the 2011 Restaurateur of the Year by the Canadian Association of Food Service Professionals, Michael Stadtländer is a pioneer and leader of Canada’s influential farm-to-table culinary movement.
Gilles Ste-Croix, OC, street performer, businessman (born 1950 in La Sarre, Quebec). In 1984, Gilles Ste-Croix and Guy Laliberté transformed their troupe of street performers into Cirque du Soleil, the world’s largest circus production company and one of the world’s biggest live entertainment companies. Ste-Croix served as vice-president from the company’s founding and as creative director from 1988 until his retirement in 2014. He is a Companion of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
