Browse "Business & Economics"

Sir Joseph-David-Rodolphe Forget, stockbroker, politician (b at Terrebonne, Canada E 10 Dec 1861; d at Montréal 19 Feb 1919).

Sir Richard Ernest William Turner, KCMG, VC, DSO, businessman and soldier (b at Québec 25 July 1871; d there 19 June 1961). In 1891 he entered his family's wholesale grocery and lumber business.

Sir Robert Gillespie Reid, bridge and railway builder, financier (b at Coupar Angus, Scot 1842; d at Montréal 3 June 1908). He worked briefly in Australia as a contractor and then came to Canada (1871).

Sir Samuel Cunard, merchant, shipowner (b at Halifax 21 Nov 1787; d at London, Eng 28 Apr 1865).

Sir William Christopher Macdonald, manufacturer, philanthropist (b at Glenaladale, PEI 1831; d at Montréal 9 June 1917), son of Donald Macdonald, president of the Legislative Council of PEI. Educated at Central Academy, Charlottetown, Macdonald began his career as a Montréal commission merchant.

Van Horne succeeded George STEPHEN as president of the CPR in 1888. He regarded the Canadian Pacific as a transportation and communications system. At his insistence, the company developed a telegraph service and entered the express business.

From 1831 Logan managed the Forest Copper Works near Swansea, in South Wales. A systematic thinker by nature, and anxious to find a reliable source of coal, he mapped the nearby coal seams topographically and cross-sectionally.

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).

Sir William Mackenzie, railway entrepreneur (b in Eldon Twp, Peterborough County, Canada W 17 or 30 Oct 1849; d at Toronto 5 Dec 1923). Though he was both a teacher and local politician, his chief interest was business.

Sir William Pearce Howland, businessman, politician, lieutenant-governor of Ontario 1868–73 (born 29 May 1811 in Pawling, New York; died 1 January 1907 in Toronto, ON).

Sir William Price, lumber merchant, manufacturer (b at Talca, Chile 30 Aug 1867; d at Kenogami, Qué 2 Oct 1924). The grandson of William PRICE, young Price was educated at private schools in Québec and England before entering the family firm, Price Bros and Company, in 1886.

Sir William Vaughan, colonial promoter, author (b at Carmarthen, Wales 1575; d at Llangyndeyrn, Wales Aug 1641). Vaughan was one of the earliest advocates of Newfoundland as a practical and economically suitable place for English settlement.

Stephen Boleslav Roman, mine executive (b at Velky Ruskov, Slovakia 17 Apr 1921; d at Markham, Ont 23 Mar 1988). Roman immigrated to Canada in 1937, working as a farm labourer before joining the Canadian Army in 1942.

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).

Stephen McNeil, business owner, politician, 28th premier of Nova Scotia, 2013 to present (born 10 November 1964 in Halifax, NS). Few observers expected much from refrigerator repairman Stephen McNeil when he was first elected to the Nova Scotia legislature in 2003. But he surprised pundits when he became leader of the Liberal Party, and was twice elected premier, winning majority governments in 2013 and 2017.

Stephen J. R. Smith, financial services entrepreneur, civic leader, philanthropist (born 2 June 1951 in Ottawa, ON). Stephen Smith is a successful entrepreneur in the financial services industry. He is co-founder, chairman, president and CEO of First National Financial LP, Canada’s largest non-bank mortgage lender, as well as chairman and co-owner of the Canada Guaranty Mortgage Insurance Company, Canada’s third largest mortgage insurance provider. He is also involved in the administration of cultural organizations such as the Royal Ontario Museum, Rideau Hall Foundation and Historica Canada — publisher of The Canadian Encyclopedia — where he has been chair of the board of directors since 2009. The business school at his alma mater, Queen’s University, was named in his honour after his record $50 million gift to the university in 2015. He is a Companion of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame (2019). A licensed pilot, he is renowned among friends and associates for his daredevil approach to his favourite sports, which include heli-skiing and long-distance cycling. As Charles Brindamour, president and chief executive officer of Intact Financial Corp. has said, “Stephen is a force of nature.”

Susur Lee, chef, restaurateur (born 1 January 1958 in Hong Kong). Susur Lee is a celebrated pioneer of modern Chinese cuisine and “fusion” cooking. He has received the prestigious CAA Five Diamond Award in Cannes, France, and was named one of the “ten chefs of the millennium” by Toronto-based Food & Wine magazine.

Sylvia Ostry, née Knelman, economist, public servant (b at Winnipeg 3 June 1927). Ostry was educated in Winnipeg and at McGill and Cambridge. She began her career in university teaching at McGill and Oxford.

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).

Terrence H. Matthews, businessman (b at Newbridge, Wales). Matthews began his career in telecommunications at the age of 16 at British Telecom Research Labs in his native Wales.