John Wilson McConnell
Encyclopedia
John Wilson McConnell was a Canadian businessman, newspaper publisher, humanitarian, and the most significant philanthropist in the history of the province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Early life

McConnell was born to a farming family in the Muskoka Region
Muskoka District Municipality, Ontario
The District Municipality of Muskoka, more generally referred to as the District of Muskoka, or simply Muskoka, is a Regional Municipality located in Central Ontario, Canada. Muskoka extends from Georgian Bay in the west, to the northern tip of Lake Couchiching in the south, to the western border...

 of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. He left home as a boy of fourteen to find employment in the city of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. His first job paid $3 a week but as an employee at Standard Chemical Co. he worked his way up to a management position that eventually led to a transfer to Montreal in 1901. The then 23-year-old for a time lived in a room at the Montreal YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

, an institution that he would later thank through his volunteering to help lead a successful fund-raising campaign. In 1905, he married Lily May Griffith. They had four children.

St. Lawrence Sugar

Although he had very limited education, J.W. McConnell was a principled and brilliant business visionary with a strong work ethic. Within a few years, he turned his savings into sizeable investments and in 1912 he gained majority control of St. Lawrence Sugar, a company founded in 1879 to compete with Montreal's Redpath Sugar
Redpath Sugar
Redpath Sugar was an important company in the economic history of Canada.-History:Redpath Sugar was established as the Canada Sugar Refining Company in 1854 in Montreal, Quebec by Scots-Quebecer entrepreneur, John Redpath . Located on the bank of the Lachine Canal, the giant complex was the first...

 refinery. The sugar refinery was struggling at the time McConnell stepped in but, renamed St. Lawrence Sugar Refineries, Limited he turned it into a very profitable business and would retain ownership for the rest of his life.

Montreal Star

During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, J.W. McConnell played a key role in helping organize war bond
War bond
War bonds are debt securities issued by a government for the purpose of financing military operations during times of war. War bonds generate capital for the government and make civilians feel involved in their national militaries...

 drives and his business skills were put to use by the Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...

 that appointed him to the unpaid position of Director of Licences for the Wartime Trade Board. In the decade following the end of the War, he sought out more business opportunities and in 1925 he bought the publishing business belonging to Hugh Graham
Hugh Graham, 1st Baron Atholstan
Hugh Graham, 1st Baron Atholstan , was a Canadian newspaper publisher.-Biography:Born in Athelstan , Huntingdon County, Quebec, Graham was the son of Robert Walker Graham, a Scottish land owner, and his wife, Marion, daughter of Colonel Thomas McLeay Gardner.He was educated at the Huntingdon...

 (1848-1938) that included the Montreal Star
Montreal Star
The Montreal Star was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It folded in 1979 following an eight-month pressmen's strike....

newspaper. Under McConnell's leadership, the newspapers and magazines flourished. An extremely wealthy man, the respect he earned in the Montreal business community led to invitations to sit on the Board of Directors of a number of major corporations including the Bank of Montreal
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal , , or BMO Financial Group, is the fourth largest bank in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded on June 23, 1817 by John Richardson and eight merchants in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. On May 19, 1817 the Articles of Association were adopted, making it...

, Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

, Sun Life Assurance, International Nickel Company, Dominion Bridge Company Limited
Dominion Bridge Company
Dominion Bridge Company Limited was a Canadian steel bridge constructor originally based in Lachine, Quebec. From the core business of steel bridge component fabrication, the company diversified into related areas such as the fabrication of holding tanks for pulp mills and skyscraper framing.Other...

, Holt Renfrew & Co Ltd, and Dominion Rubber Company. At the same time, in 1922 his increasing community work resulted in him being offered a seat on the board of management of the Montreal General Hospital
Montreal General Hospital
The Montreal General Hospital is a hospital in Montreal, Canada, established on May 1, 1819 and an early teaching hospital. First located on the corner of Craig and St-Lawrence Streets with only 24 beds, it moved in 1822 to a new 72-bed building on Dorchester Street. It is currently situated on...

. As well, he was made a governor of McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

 in 1927 and of the Royal Victoria Hospital the following year, both institutions benefiting greatly from his generosity.

Philanthropy

McConnell quietly set about becoming one of his country’s greatest philanthropists. He shunned publicity and his own newspaper was never allowed to mention any of his charitable donations. To aid in the treatment of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

, he purchased a cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....

 60Co therapy machine for the Imperial Cancer Campaign, and donated them to the Jewish General Hospital, the Hôpital Notre-Dame de Montréal, and the Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal is the oldest hospital in Montreal, Quebec. Since 1996 it has been one of the three hospitals making up the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal ....

 and Hôpital L'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec
Hôtel-Dieu de Québec
The Hotel-Dieu de Québec is a teaching hospital located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada and affiliated with Université Laval's medical school. It is part of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec , a network of three teaching hospitals and several specialized institutions. Its areas of...

 in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

. In 1937 McConnell founded the J. W. McConnell Foundation.

A major benefactor of McGill University, McConnell served on the Board of Governors for 30 years (1928-58). He gave the university Purvis Hall in 1942, Chancellor Day Hall (James Ross
James Ross (Canadian businessman)
James L. Ross , was a Scottish-born Canadian civil engineer and businessman, who developed his fortune in railway construction.-Early life:...

 mansion) in 1948, the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre at the Montreal Neurological Institute
Montreal Neurological Institute
The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital is an academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience research, training and clinical care. The Institute is part of McGill University and the Hospital is one of the five teaching hospitals of the McGill University Health Centre, in Montreal,...

 in 1952 and the McConnell Winter Stadium in 1956. In 1959, he donated the funds to build the McConnell Engineering Building which doubled the number of engineering classrooms and offices and in 1961 built Presbyterian College (Morrice Hall). After his death, the J. W. McConnell Foundation undertook the 1971 renovations to the McCord Museum
McCord Museum
The McCord Museum is a public research and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, study, diffusion, and appreciation of Canadian history...

.

During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, after the United States Lend-lease
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...

 program was launched in March 1941, fellow Canadian businessman Max Aitken, the then volunteer British Minister of Aircraft Production
Minister of Aircraft Production
The Minister of Aircraft Production was the British government position in charge of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, one of the specialised supply ministries set up by the British Government during World War II...

, asked McConnell to help finance the training of pilots such as Jackie Cochran
Jacqueline Cochran
Jacqueline Cochran was a pioneer American aviator, considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to ferry American-built aircraft across the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. McConnell donated $1 million for the "Wings for Britain" campaign and in recognition of his contribution, a flying squadron was given his name.

In the 1950s, J.W. McConnell provided the money to build a boys and girls club in Montreal's predominantly French speaking
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 East End and in the English speaking
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 suburb of Pointe-Saint-Charles
Pointe-Saint-Charles
Pointe-Saint-Charles is a neighbourhood in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:...

, one of the poorest sections of the city of Montreal. McConnell's benevolent works extended to individuals such as Maureen Forrester
Maureen Forrester
Maureen Kathleen Stewart Forrester, was a Canadian operatic contralto.-Life and career:Maureen Forrester was born and grew up in a poor section of Montreal, Quebec. She was one of four children to Thomas Forrester, a Scottish cabinetmaker, and his Irish-born wife, the former May Arnold. She...

 who recounted in her biography how he had learned of the difficulty she was experiencing, holding down a job while trying to develop her singing career. He contacted her and offered to cover her expenses for three years so she could train professionally — on the condition she never reveal his name. A patron of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...

, in the early 1960s when the Orchestra was preparing to move to new facilities at Place des Arts
Place des Arts
right|frame|View of the Place des Arts esplanade. The Musée d'art contemporain is on the left; behind it is the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with the Théâtre Maisonneuve on the rightPlace des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada....

, McConnell purchased a 1727 Stradivarius
Stradivarius
The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...

 violin for concertmaster and violinist Calvin Sieb.

Death

When John Wilson McConnell died in 1963, his newspaper's rival, the Montreal Gazette, gave his passing front page coverage, describing him as "one of the world's great philanthropists" and that he had "played a key role in building the institutions in this city."

In his honor, McGill University named several buildings after him and the world-renowned McConnell Brain Imaging Centre can be found at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Almost thirty years after his passing, his foundation was still carrying out his philanthropic ideals. In 1992, the J. W. McConnell Building opened at Concordia University in Montreal and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation continues to undertake charitable work to this day.

In 1973, the Montreal Star was sold to Free Press Publications of Toronto and within a few years closed its doors. In 1984, his estate sold St. Lawrence Sugar Refineries to the Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...

 based Lantic Sugar Limited.

John Wilson McConnell was interred in the family plot at Mount Royal Cemetery
Mount Royal Cemetery
Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a 165-acre terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The burial ground shares the mountain with the much larger adjacent Roman Catholic cemetery -- Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges...

.

External links

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