Sir Samuel Cunard, pioneer of ocean steam navigation and founder of the Cunard Line.

Born in 1787 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, young Sam worked on his family’s square riggers and dreamed of the day he would cross the ocean by steamer. During his young adulthood, he earned a reputation for honesty and good business sense. His personal fortune was amassed through investments in coal and iron mines and timber tracks.

By the time ocean steamers became viable, Samuel was owner of a fleet of riggers and steamers that traveled between Halifax and Bermuda. In 1830, at age 43, he purchased a part interest in a new steamer, the Royal William. With Samuel aboard, it crossed the Atlantic entirely under steam.

While in England in 1839, Samuel’s successful bid to carry mail to North America by steamship gave birth to the Cunard Line. Through a Scottish shipbuilder, Samuel ordered four ocean steamers. In 1840 the first of these, The Britannia, carried the Royal mail to Halifax under the Cunard flag.

Passenger liners were added to the Cunard Line in 1847. The move positioned Cunard as a world leader in ocean travel. By 1907 millions of immigrants to the new land were arriving on Cunard ships, including the Lusitania and the luxurious Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary.

At 61, Cunard was knighted by Queen Victoria for making Cunard steamers available for allied efforts during the Crimean War. He eventually took up residence in London, but his financial influence remained prominent within Halifax charitable societies.

Stephen B. Roman, mining magnate, financier and founder of Denison Mines Limited and The Roman Corporation.

Stephen Roman was driven by his belief in the freedom of individuals to create their own destiny. He was just 16 and penniless when he arrived in Canada from Eastern Slovakia in 1937. He worked as a farm labourer near Port Perry, Ontario until 1946, when he staked a gold claim northwest of Sudbury, Ontario. A quick sale brought a modest profit which Stephen reinvested in the fields of Alberta and western United States.

In 1954, Stephen returned to mining when he bought a controlling interest in Ontario’s Denison Mines. His determination and focused strategy brought a renewed stability to an unsettled mining community that was experiencing tough economic times. Denison became a major international player with the discovery of the world’s largest single source of uranium at Elliot Lake, Ontario.

A slump in uranium sales in the 1960’s forced Denison to diversify into potash and oil and gas production. While aggressively seeking new contracts at home and abroad, Stephen entered the cement, paper and financial services markets through his newly founded company, The Roman Corporation. His tenacity secured strong consistent performances for his companies, resulting in profits in the billions of dollars.

Numerous corporations and foundations benefited from Stephen’s generous patronage. He was and active supporter of the Slovak community which led to his founding of the Slovak World Congress.

Camille Arthur Dagenais impressed by architecture and construction while he was growing up, decided to attend the University of Montreal’s Polytechnic School. Montreal’s Sun Life Building and the Jacques Cartier Bridge had a decisive influence on his career choice. After graduating in 1946 with a degree in civil engineering, Camille spent four years at Canadian Industries Limited. His next post was with H.J. Doran, an architect firm, where he spent three years as resident engineer on The Pine Tree Line Radar Stations.

In 1967 Camille Dagenais became President of SNC. By the time he became Chairman 10 years later, SNC was involved in the design and management of projects in 42 countries.

In 1973 Camille received his first in a series of honourary degrees including: The University of Toronto, The University of Montreal, Concordia, and The University of Waterloo. In 1981 he became Honourary Member of The Mexican Academy of Engineers and was named International Businessman of the year. He’s also an Honorary Chief of Montreal’s Beaver Club.

Ephraim Diamond was a co-founder of Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited, and served as its Chairman and CEO until 1979. He continued on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee until the company was sold in 1987. Whitecastle Investments, the family holding company, is now under the direction of his son, Carey Diamond.

Born to a poor immigrant family, Diamond graduated from Queen’s University in 1943 with an engineering degree. He entered the Royal Canadian Navy immediately, and spent the next three years serving as a radar officer – despite being chronically seasick. Once he was back on land, Diamond took a job in construction as a project engineer at Principal Investments. He stayed with the company for seven years before venturing out on his own. With two partners, Jack Kamin and Joe Berman, Diamond created Cadillac Contracting and Developments Ltd., the precursor of Cadillac-Fairview.

Diamond achieved lasting success with Cadillac-Fairview, which was once one of the largest real-estate empires in all of North America. His contributions to Canada were honored in 1994, when Diamond was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. In recognition of his life-long humanitarian work he has received the 1980 Human Relations Award from the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, in addition to the 1979 State of Israel Prime Minister’s Medal for Humanitarian Services.

His activities included membership on the Advisory Board of the University of Toronto Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, the Board of Governors of Mount Sinai Hospital, and the Board of Directors of the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. He was also a Member and Honorary Director of the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.

Ephraim Diamond semi-retired in 1989, but continued to remain active in his business and community. He spent much of his new free time with his wife, Shirley, his four sons, and his grandchildren. Diamond passed away in 2008 at the age of 87.

Jean-Marie Poitras – with the economy in shambles following the Great Depression, Jean-Marie left the Quebec Business Academy after two years of study, and went to work for his father who had established an insurance agency in the early 1920’s. The insurance agency flourished under Jean-Marie’s leadership and he decided to incorporate the business in 1959 under his father’s name, J.E. Poitras. For the next five years, the agency took the lead in volume of business done with the Laurentian Insurance Company. Jean-Marie Poitras was also elected twice the president of the Association of the Insurance Brokers of Quebec. He took advantage of this forum to express his views on the professional nature of brokers and insurers. His strong sense of honesty and integrity, combined with his business acumen and expertise did not go unnoticed. In 1964 he was made technical advisor to the President of the Laurentian-Mutual Insurance Company, and in 1965 he took over the President’s chair. Jean-Marie’s belief that there must be a social dimension to insurance company activities was reflected in the Laurentian’s investment practices. Today the Laurentian Group offers a variety of financial services not only in Canada but also in the US.

Sir George Simpson, Governor-in-Chief of The Hudson’s Bay Company.

Simpson was born in the Scottish Highlands in the late 1700’s, and in 1809 he journeyed to London to work with his uncle Geddes Mackenzie Simpson, a sugar merchant and major investor in The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC).

His skills interested his uncle’s partner Andrew Colville, who was also a high ranking HBC executive. Colvile encouraged Simpson to join the London office of the HBC, and the young man eventually became the Governor of the Northern Department of the company. He oversaw the merging of HBC and the North West Company, and sought to streamline the new enterprise by closing competing fur trade posts. He was an avid traveler and visited fur trade posts all across North America. A stern taskmaster, he pushed his traveling crewmen to extremes in order to move as quickly as possible from post to post.

He became Governor-in-Chief of the company in 1821, and was legendary for his hands-on approach to governing the tiny posts and settlements which eventually became Canada’s western provincial capitals and large cities.

His shrewdness, dedication to economical business practices, and active promotion of free enterprise, led to self-sufficiency among the settlements.

Simpson’s other business interests included real estate, banks, railroads and canals.

In 1841, he was knighted in recognition of his many accomplishments, including his tireless work building HBC, as well as assisting in Arctic exploration.

Upon his retirement, Simpson settled into residency at The Hudson’s Bay House in Lachine, Quebec, where he spent his time entertaining local society and playing host to visiting royalty.

Sir William Cornelius Van Horne pushed the Canadian Pacific Railway lines through to the west coast, and also developed the plans for its national hotel system.

Van Horne was born in Chicago, and began his railway career as a telegrapher at the age of 14, but his innate management skills soon led to rapid progression within U.S. regional railroads, and his hard-driving reputation brought him to the attention of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, at a time when it was building a railway from Montreal to the Pacific Coast. Persuaded by CPR to move north, the 38-year-old Van Horne arrived in Winnipeg in 1881, and was hired on as General Manager.

He had a natural genius for construction, and an intuitive grasp of engineering. Working in a state of constant financial crisis, he pushed the line westward, while at the same time developing plans for a chain of chateau-style hotels, as well as an ocean steamship line for Canadian Pacific.

However, completion of the railroad was his first priority.  Disregarding warnings that the mountains were impenetrable, Van Horne chose the entrance to Burrard Inlet as the railway’s Pacific terminus, and named it Vancouver. In November 1885 CPR’s last spike was driven home.

Van Horne was appointed President of CPR in 1888. Failing health dictated his retirement in 1899, although he assumed the titular role of Chairman of the Board and member of the Executive Committee until his full withdrawal in 1910, and retirement to his estate in New Brunswick. Even in retirement, he characteristically built a railroad in eastern Cuba and a Guatemalan line.

He was a trustee of McGill University and a Director or Officer of many trusts, urban transport companies, and industries in Canada, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, and Brazil.

In 1894 he was awarded the title of Honorary Knight Commander.

He has best been described as: “body and soul a Canadian Pacific man, a genius of transportation”.

Sir William Maxwell “Max” Aitken was born in Maple, Ontario in 1879. Raised in Newcastle, New Brunswick, he was the sixth in a family of ten children. A financer, political figure and newspaper magnate, Aitken got his first taste of the publishing industry at age 14 when he published his own newspaper, The Leader.

Upon moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a young man, Aitken met his future mentor and friend, John F. Stairs, who hired him and trained him in finance. Although Aitken had received very little formal schooling, he became general manager of Stairs’ Royal Securities Corporation in 1904, quickly establishing himself as a gifted dealmaker. Stairs died unexpectedly that same year, leaving Aitken control of the company that he would eventually sell in 1919.

Maxwell Aitken married Gladys Henderson Drury on January 29, 1906, with whom he would have three children. They moved to Montreal, the financial center of Canada at the time, where Aitken acquired a seat on the Montreal Stock Exchange and made his first million before the age of 30.

The family moved to England in 1910, at which time Aitken struck up a lucrative friendship with Bonar Law, the only Canadian to ever become Prime Minister of Great Britain. Max also befriended the likes of Winston Churchill and Lloyd George. Elected to England’s parliament, Aitken served until 1916. Knighted in 1911, he later was made a Baronet. When elevated to the peerage in 1917 Max took his title, First Baron Beaverbrook, from a stream called Beaver Brook that he swam in as a youth.

During World War I Aitken created the Canadian War Records Office in London, and ensured that Canada’s contributions to the War were printed in Canadian and British newspapers alike. Aitken also published a number of books on the topic; 1916’s Canada in Flanders heralds the achievements of Canadian soldiers on the battlefields.

He began building his publishing empire by acquiring the London Daily Express and Sunday Times, founding the Sunday Express in 1918. After World War II, the Daily Express became the largest selling newspaper in the world, with a circulation of 3,706,000. His great press domain was used to support his ideal of a greater British Empire.

Max Aitken was admired for his abounding energy and capacity for hard work. A generous benefactor to New Brunswick, he provided additions to the University of New Brunswick, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel (whose profits were donated to charity) and many other projects. His financial genius was demonstrated throughout his long and diverse career, and he remains a both a key and controversial figure in our nation’s history.

A.Deane Nesbitt, the pre-eminent creative financier who moulded Nesbitt Thomson and Co. into a major securities firm.

Montreal born, Deane graduated from McGill University in 1933 with an engineering degree. He abandoned engineering and chose a statistical career in his father’s investment company, Nesbitt Thomson and Co., a firm that financed hydro electric utilities.

Following a tour of duty with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Deane returned to Nesbitt Thomson. He progressed through the company and in 1947 was made a director. Seven years later he was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer where he remained for 25 years. In the late 1950’s while serving as President of the Nesbitt Thomson subsidiary, Power Corporation, Deane successfully arranged the entangled financing of the TransCanada Pipelines Project and other complex Canadian underwritings including British Columbia Electric Co. and Winnipeg Gas Co.

His early vision saw clearly that Canada’s financial survival depended on being able to compete globally. He used his uncanny knack for bringing together those who needed capital with those who had it. From his strong personality and grueling work habits came the initiative in 1968 that took Nesbitt Thomson into the arena of mergers and international banking.

Deane’s integrity in supporting business turned Nesbitt Thomson, a company that began as an energy specialist, into a fully integrated securities firm.

C.D Howe, professional engineer, entrepreneur and politician. He propelled Canada into a world class industrial nation.

Howe was born in Massachusetts and in 1907 graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He relocated to Canada to become Dalhousie University’s first professor of civil engineering. A brief stint in Winnipeg, as Chief Engineer with the Board of Grain Commissioners, preceded Howe’s move to Port Arthur, Ontario. It was there he established what would become a worldwide design engineering firm, C.D. Howe and Company.

In 1934, as a Member of Parliament, he served with Prime Minister MacKenzie King. Direct and abrasive, the “most unlikely” politician became known as the “Minister of Everything.” How was responsible for creating Canada’s first Crown corporations including: Canadian National Railways, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and, in 1937, Trans Canada Airlines. During World War II Howe surrounded himself with businessmen, dubbed “Howe’s boys,” and together they industrialized Canada to supply the Allies.

Howe ended his 23-year political career in 1957 when the TransCanada Pipeline debate brought down the Government. He moved to Montreal and accepted the position of Chairman, Ogilvie Flour Mills. His contribution to business continued through several directorships.

Howe died in 1970. He is remembered most as the man who, through his determination to get things done against all odds, systematically pulled Canada together.

Geoffrey Hutchence Wood celebrated his 15^th birthday on board a ship bound for Canada. Before he was 21, he had a taste of war, and a taste of selling. “I’d rather sell than eat.” he said. His first real business venture was the development and sale of the disposable paper cup in Canada.

In 1922 he got the biggest order of his career from Canada’s Parliament Buildings, and within two days opened an office at 28 Wellington Street East, Toronto as G.H. Wood and Company. Soon he realized he wasn’t selling just paper cups, he was selling preventions against germs festering in the common drinking glasses… he was selling “Sanitation for the Nation.” Paper cups soon found company with liquid soap, paper towels, dispensers, cleaning agents and so on. It was a logical progression.

Geoffrey knew that anything can be sold the first time. But only the best can be sold again. To build repeat sales required quality control and an investment in research development. He was the consummate salesman, the born promoter, and the man who knew instinctively how to sell.