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Article

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.

Article

Byron Ingemar Johnson

Byron Ingemar Johnson, "Boss," businessman, politician, premier of BC 1947-52 (b at Victoria 10 Dec 1890; d there 12 Jan 1964). After service in WWI, Johnson and his brothers formed a building supply company in Victoria. Elected as a Liberal in Victoria in 1933, he was defeated in 1937.

Article

Andrew Graham

Andrew Graham, fur trader (b probably near Edinburgh, Scot c 1733; d at Prestonpans, Scot 8 Sept 1815). Graham worked for the Hudson's Bay Company at Churchill, York Factory and Ft Severn (1749-75).

Article

Richard M. Ivey

Richard (Dick) Macauley Ivey, CC, QC, lawyer, businessperson and philanthropist (born 26 October 1925 in London, ON; died 28 December 2019 in Toronto, ON). Richard M. Ivey had a long career as a corporate lawyer and business executive, but he is best known for his philanthropy. Working through his family’s Ivey Foundation, he supported education, medicine and the arts, in particular. The name of the world-renowned Ivey Business School at Western University recognizes his and his family members’ contributions to the university.

Article

Larry Tanenbaum

​Lawrence “Larry” Murray Tanenbaum, O.C., businessman, sports executive, philanthropist (born 8 July 1945 in Toronto, ON). Larry Tanenbaum is best known for his position as chair of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the company that owns four major league sports teams: the Toronto FC, Maple Leafs, Raptors and Argonauts. His career has also spanned the worlds of finance, construction, politics and philanthropy. He is a prominent figure in Toronto and Canada’s Jewish community.

Article

Mike Savage

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.

Article

Brandt Louie

Brandt Louie, business tycoon, philanthropist (born 5 July 1943 in Vancouver, BC). Louie is the president of the H.Y. Louie Company, a business started by his grandfather in 1903 that now includes London Drugs Ltd. and the IGA grocery store chain. In 2017, Louie was listed as Canada’s 47th richest person in Canadian Business magazine’s annual ranking, with an estimated fortune of $2.1 billion. Louie is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and a Member of the Order of British Columbia.

Article

Joshua Mauger

Joshua Mauger, colonial entrepreneur, sea captain, politician (baptized 25 April 1725 in the parish of St. John, Jersey; died 18 October 1788 at Warborne, near Lymington, England). Mauger was one of Nova Scotia’s wealthiest and most influential merchants in the 18th century. Although he only spent 11 years in the colony, he exerted significant power in its business and politics for two decades after. His complex involvement with Nova Scotia underscores the bonds of subservience and influence that hindered the colony’s early development. Mauger also enslaved Black people and built a significant portion of his business empire on the labour of enslaved people.

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Bronfman Sells DuPont

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on April 17, 1995. Partner content is not updated.

Former film-maker Edgar Bronfman Jr. showed last week that he still has a flair for the dramatic. Investors and analysts were kept on the edge of their seats as the 39-year-old chief executive of Seagram Co. Ltd.

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David O'Brien (Profile)

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on November 16, 1998. Partner content is not updated.

David O’Brien, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Canadian Pacific Ltd., is a man who regularly confounds expectations.

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Cowpland Charged

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on October 25, 1999. Partner content is not updated.

One of the best anecdotes about COREL Corp. chief executive Michael COWPLAND that doesn't also involve his flamboyant wife, Marlen, concerns the time he accidentally drove his Corvette off the road one winter morning on his way to the office.

Article

James McGill

James McGill, fur trader, merchant, politician, philanthropist (born 6 October 1744 in Glasgow, Scotland; died 19 December 1813 in Montreal, Lower Canada). James McGill was one of Montreal’s most prominent citizens in the 18th and early 19th centuries. He grew a successful career as a fur trader into a business empire. McGill also held various positions in public office, including three terms in Lower Canada’s legislature. His will contained the endowment for McGill University. James McGill’s achievements cannot be separated from the fact that he enslaved Black and Indigenous people and profited from this practice.

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Gerry Schwartz (Profile)

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on 8 March 1999. Partner content is not updated.

The big black Mercedes glides past the beds of gold- and wine-coloured chrysanthemums that spruce up Toronto's business district in early fall. Quickly and discreetly it transports Gerry Schwartz from his Onex Corp.

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Bronfman Versus Hollywood

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.

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Gwyn Morgan (Profile)

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on January 13, 2003. Partner content is not updated.

BY HIS OWN ACCOUNT, the most powerful man in Canada's OIL patch is, at heart, a simple country boy. Gwyn Morgan, president and chief executive officer of EnCana Corp.

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Bernard Ebbers (Profile)

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on October 20, 1997. Partner content is not updated.

In the late 1950s, Bernard (Bernie) Ebbers liked nothing better than cruising the streets of Edmonton in his red Pontiac. On Saturday nights, he and his friends from Victoria Composite High School would gather at the Kingsway Inn to discuss their favorite topics - girls and sports - over beer.

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John Roth (Profile)

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on August 2, 1999. Partner content is not updated.

John Roth was not at all happy. For two months last winter, a Dallas-based advertising agency had been working on a hip new TV commercial for Nortel Networks Corp., the Canadian telecommunications giant of which Roth, 56, is chief executive officer.

Article

Hunter Harrison

Ewing Hunter Harrison III, president and CEO of Canadian National Railway Company 2003–09, CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway Limited 2012–17 (born 7 November 1944 in Memphis, Tennessee; died 16 December 2017 in Wellington, Florida). Best known as the leading proponent of Precision Scheduled Railroading, Hunter Harrison ran four publicly traded, Class 1 railroads during his more than half century in the industry. His leadership of Canada’s two largest railway companies greatly improved the efficiency and profitability of both businesses.

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