Signing up enhances your TCE experience with the ability to save items to your personal reading list, and access the interactive map.
Create AccountSir 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Sir James Spearman Winter, politician, prime minister of Newfoundland 1897-1900 (b at Lamaline, Nfld 1 Jan 1845; d at Toronto 6 Oct 1911). Winter began his political career in 1873 and entered Sir William WHITEWAY's Cabinet as solicitor general in 1882.
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.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on December 6, 1999. Partner content is not updated.
A newly minted University of Manitoba business school graduate, Marty Weinberg was desperate to get a job. He intended to ask his girlfriend, Gina Frieman, to marry him, and her father, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, was not the type to take kindly to an unemployed son-in-law.Robert Ferguson, businessman (b at Logierait, Scot 17 Apr 1768; d at Campbellton, NB 10 Aug 1851). He came to the RESTIGOUCHE RIVER in 1796 and was soon the most prominent merchant and largest landowner in the region.
Ross Huntington McMaster, industrialist (b at Montréal 11 Oct 1880; d there 3 Jan 1962). For over 50 years, McMaster was a senior executive of the Steel Company of Canada (STELCO). He began his career with the Sherwin-Williams Paint Co.
Aaron Roland Mosher, trade unionist (b in Halifax County, NS 10 May 1881; d at Ottawa 26 Sept 1959). In 1907 Mosher led Halifax freight-shed employees on strike.
Simeon Perkins, merchant, diarist (b at Norwich, Conn 24 Feb 1735; d at Liverpool, NS 9 May 1812). He arrived in Liverpool in 1762 and rapidly became the leading local merchant, dealing in fish and lumber, building sawmills and
Erastus Wiman, journalist, businessman (b at Churchville, UC 21 Apr 1834; d on Staten I, NY 9 Feb 1904).
Harry William Hays, farmer, rancher, businessman, politician (b at Carstairs, Alta 25 Dec 1909; d at Ottawa 4 May 1982). He was mayor of Calgary 1959-63, federal minister of agriculture 1963-65 and senator 1966-82.
