Ron Joyce
Encyclopedia
Ronald Vaughan "Ron" Joyce, CM
(born 1930) is a Canadian
billionaire businessman. He co-founded the Tim Hortons
doughnut
chain as Tim Horton
's partner and first franchisee.
, Nova Scotia
, Joyce enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy
and specialized in communications. Joyce later moved to Hamilton
, Ontario
and joined the Hamilton Police force in 1956. He served as a police officer until 1965. He established a Dairy Queen
franchise
in Hamilton and got to know the hockey
player Tim Horton by frequenting his doughnut shop while on foot patrol.
Joyce entered a franchise partnership with Horton in 1967, and Joyce reportedly wrote "You must be kidding!" in reference to the clause of the one-page franchise agreement requiring rent in advance. The full Tim Horton franchise was given to Joyce.
Joyce hired a management team and began to franchise the company throughout the late 1970s until the 1990s. During the early 1990s, Danny Murphy, a franchise owner of both Tim Hortons coffee shops and Wendy's
fast food restaurants in Prince Edward Island
wanted to combine both franchises under one roof in a new development in Montague
. Murphy asked Joyce and Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas
(1932–2002), to be present for the opening, which was reportedly the first time the business executives had met.
The Montague "combo store" concept eventually led to an informal partnership between Tim Hortons and Wendy's, and several years later Wendy's would merge the companies, in exchange for Joyce accepting Wendy's stock — Joyce thus became the largest single shareholder of Wendy's, even larger than Thomas himself.
and Shaw Communications
.
In 2000, Joyce opened Fox Harb'r Golf Resort & Spa, a five star
, four diamond resort
/gated community
. An airport
was built as part of the new resort, replacing the nearby Tatamagouche Airport
located at the Tim Hortons Tatamagouche Children's Camp.
In 2006 Joyce published his memoirs of his time with Tim Hortons
titled Always Fresh: The Untold Story Of Tim Hortons By The Man Who Created A Canadian Empire
.
. Joyce is still the honorary chair of the Tim Horton's Children Foundation, but he says he no longer takes an active role in the charity. Instead, he started his own foundation, The Ron Joyce Foundation, to administrate his personal philanthropic work.
In May 1993, Joyce accepted an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from Saint Mary's University
in Halifax, Nova Scotia
. In 1994, he received McGill University
's Management Achievement Award. He also holds honorary degree
s from Mount Allison
and McMaster
universities. In November 1996, Ron Joyce became only the second person to ever receive the Canadian Franchise Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
In April 1999, Ron Joyce was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame
and in October of the same year, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Ontario and Canada.
In June 2005, Joyce donated $10 million dollars towards the construction of a new sports stadium, Ron Joyce Stadium, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, the single largest private donation to a Canadian athletics program to that date. In June 2007, he donated a further $10 million dollars towards McMaster's new Burlington campus, which will house an expansion of the Business program
In November 2005, Joyce was the 2005 Humanitarian Award Recipient by the Canadian Red Cross
, Nova Scotia Region for his work with the Tim Horton Children's Foundation and for his continued support of education and health organizations across the world.
In November 2008, he donated $5,000,000 to the Mount Allison University
"Commerce Faculty" for use in the construction of the Commerce Lounge and development of the Commerce Department of Mt. Allison.
On 11 November 2007, the Bombardier Global 5000
business jet in which Joyce was travelling crashed short of the runway at his Fox Harb'r Resort's airport
. Joyce suffered two fractured vertebrae as a result.
Joyce owns at least four yachts, both sail and motor, each with the phrase Fox Harb'r in their registered names.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born 1930) is a Canadian
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...
billionaire businessman. He co-founded the Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons Inc. is a Canadian fast casual restaurant known for its coffee and doughnuts. It is also Canada's largest fast food service with over 3000 stores nationwide. It was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and Jim Charade, after an initial venture in...
doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
chain as Tim Horton
Tim Horton
Myles Gilbert "Tim" Horton was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in 24 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. He was also a businessman and a co-founder of Tim Hortons. He died in an...
's partner and first franchisee.
Early life and career
Born and raised in TatamagoucheTatamagouche, Nova Scotia
Tatamagouche is a Canadian village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia.Tatamagouche is situated on the Northumberland Strait 50 kilometers north of Truro and 50 kilometres west of Pictou. The village is located along the south side of Tatamagouche Bay at the mouths of the French and Waugh Rivers...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Joyce enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
and specialized in communications. Joyce later moved to Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, 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....
and joined the Hamilton Police force in 1956. He served as a police officer until 1965. He established a Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen, often abbreviated DQ, is a chain of soft serve and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc, who also owns Orange Julius and Karmelkorn. The name "Dairy Queen" is taken from the name of their soft serve product, which the company refers to as "Dairy Queen" or...
franchise
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
in Hamilton and got to know the hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
player Tim Horton by frequenting his doughnut shop while on foot patrol.
Joyce entered a franchise partnership with Horton in 1967, and Joyce reportedly wrote "You must be kidding!" in reference to the clause of the one-page franchise agreement requiring rent in advance. The full Tim Horton franchise was given to Joyce.
Joyce hired a management team and began to franchise the company throughout the late 1970s until the 1990s. During the early 1990s, Danny Murphy, a franchise owner of both Tim Hortons coffee shops and Wendy's
Wendy's International
Wendy's International, Inc. is the parent company of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers. It also owns 70 percent of Cafe Express. The Tim Hortons chain was spun off by Wendy's into a separate company in September 2006. The Baja Fresh chain was sold in October 2006. On September 15, 2008, the...
fast food restaurants in Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
wanted to combine both franchises under one roof in a new development in Montague
Montague, Prince Edward Island
Montague is a Canadian town and the largest population centre in Kings County, Prince Edward Island.The town straddles the Montague River which is the dividing line between the townships of Lot 52 and Lot 59. The town functions as a regional service centre for a rural population of 20,000...
. Murphy asked Joyce and Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas (American businessman)
David "Dave" Thomas was an American fast-food entrepreneur and philanthropist. Thomas was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy's, a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers...
(1932–2002), to be present for the opening, which was reportedly the first time the business executives had met.
The Montague "combo store" concept eventually led to an informal partnership between Tim Hortons and Wendy's, and several years later Wendy's would merge the companies, in exchange for Joyce accepting Wendy's stock — Joyce thus became the largest single shareholder of Wendy's, even larger than Thomas himself.
Retirement
Joyce eventually sold his Wendy's stock and retired from management, but even in retirement continues to be active in his holding company, Jetport Inc, which has significant real estate, aviation, and commercial interests. He also serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Tim Horton Children's Foundation and sits on the Board of Directors of SobeysSobeys
Sobeys is the second largest food retailer in Canada, with over 1,300 supermarkets operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than $14 billion CAD in 2009...
and Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications is Canada's largest telecommunications company that provides telephone, Canada's fastest Internet and television services as well as broadcasting and soon Wifi. Shaw is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta...
.
In 2000, Joyce opened Fox Harb'r Golf Resort & Spa, a five star
Star (classification)
Stars are often used as symbols for classification purposes. They are used by reviewers for ranking things such as movies, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. For example, one to five stars is commonly employed to categorize hotels.-Restaurant ratings:...
, four diamond resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
/gated community
Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
. An airport
Fox Harbour Airport
Fox Harbour Airport is a privately owned airport located north of Fox Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada on the shore of Northumberland Strait.It was built as part of the Fox Harb'r Resort, owned by Ron Joyce. After completion of the airport, the nearby Tatamagouche Airport, located adjacent to one of...
was built as part of the new resort, replacing the nearby Tatamagouche Airport
Tatamagouche Airport
Tatamgouche Airport is an abandoned airport that was located northwest of Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Canada.The airstrip was owned and operated by the local Tim Hortons Children's Camp, the second camp built by the Tim Hortons Children's Foundation...
located at the Tim Hortons Tatamagouche Children's Camp.
In 2006 Joyce published his memoirs of his time with Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons Inc. is a Canadian fast casual restaurant known for its coffee and doughnuts. It is also Canada's largest fast food service with over 3000 stores nationwide. It was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and Jim Charade, after an initial venture in...
titled Always Fresh: The Untold Story Of Tim Hortons By The Man Who Created A Canadian Empire
Always Fresh (book)
Always Fresh: The Untold Story Of Tim Hortons By The Man Who Created A Canadian Empire is the autobiography of Ron Joyce, and covers his time with Tim Hortons from its inception until his retirement from the company.-Publication history:...
.
Charitable Contributions and Awards
Joyce devotes time to numerous charities including the Tim Horton Children's Foundation, which he founded, that sends underprivileged kids to camp each year. Joyce's efforts on behalf of the Foundation earned him the Gary Wright Humanitarian Award in 1991, presented periodically in recognition of the outstanding contributions to the betterment of community life throughout Canada. In recognition primarily for his work with the Foundation, he also received an appointment to the Order of Canada, with the official presentation taking place on October 21, 1992 in OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
. Joyce is still the honorary chair of the Tim Horton's Children Foundation, but he says he no longer takes an active role in the charity. Instead, he started his own foundation, The Ron Joyce Foundation, to administrate his personal philanthropic work.
In May 1993, Joyce accepted an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from Saint Mary's University
Saint Mary's University (Halifax)
Saint Mary's University is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. The school is best known for having nationally lead programs in Business, Astronomy and International Development Studies as well, one of the best football and Men's hockey programs in Canada .The campus is situated in Halifax's...
in Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
. In 1994, he received 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...
's Management Achievement Award. He also holds honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
s from Mount Allison
Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University is a primarily undergraduate Canadian liberal arts and science university situated in Sackville, New Brunswick. It is located about a half hour from the regional city of Moncton and 20 minutes from the Greater Moncton International Airport...
and McMaster
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
universities. In November 1996, Ron Joyce became only the second person to ever receive the Canadian Franchise Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
In April 1999, Ron Joyce was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame
Canadian Business Hall of Fame
The Canadian Business Hall of Fame honours "Canada's most distinguished business leaders", selected by an independent panel representing Canadian business, academic and media institutions....
and in October of the same year, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Ontario and Canada.
In June 2005, Joyce donated $10 million dollars towards the construction of a new sports stadium, Ron Joyce Stadium, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, the single largest private donation to a Canadian athletics program to that date. In June 2007, he donated a further $10 million dollars towards McMaster's new Burlington campus, which will house an expansion of the Business program
In November 2005, Joyce was the 2005 Humanitarian Award Recipient by the Canadian Red Cross
Canadian Red Cross
The Canadian Red Cross Society is a Canadian humanitarian charitable organization and one of 186 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies....
, Nova Scotia Region for his work with the Tim Horton Children's Foundation and for his continued support of education and health organizations across the world.
In November 2008, he donated $5,000,000 to the Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University is a primarily undergraduate Canadian liberal arts and science university situated in Sackville, New Brunswick. It is located about a half hour from the regional city of Moncton and 20 minutes from the Greater Moncton International Airport...
"Commerce Faculty" for use in the construction of the Commerce Lounge and development of the Commerce Department of Mt. Allison.
Personal life
He was married twice. In a twist of fate, Joyce's son Ron Jr. has married Tim Horton's daughter Jeri-Lyn, returning the Horton family name back to the company. The couple run two Tim Hortons locations in southern Ontario.On 11 November 2007, the Bombardier Global 5000
Bombardier Global Express
The Bombardier Global Express is an ultra long range corporate and VIP high speed jet aircraft produced by Bombardier Aerospace. The Bombardier Global 5000 is a slightly shorter version...
business jet in which Joyce was travelling crashed short of the runway at his Fox Harb'r Resort's airport
Fox Harbour Airport
Fox Harbour Airport is a privately owned airport located north of Fox Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada on the shore of Northumberland Strait.It was built as part of the Fox Harb'r Resort, owned by Ron Joyce. After completion of the airport, the nearby Tatamagouche Airport, located adjacent to one of...
. Joyce suffered two fractured vertebrae as a result.
Joyce owns at least four yachts, both sail and motor, each with the phrase Fox Harb'r in their registered names.