A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
History
A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
Canada -- Biography
=Macdonald, John= (Toronto, Ont.), the present head of the great
wholesale dry goods firm of John Macdonald & Co., of Toronto, is still a
young man. He bears the name of his father, the founder of the business,
and was born on the 4th of November, 1863, at the old family homestead,
Oaklands, a beautiful villa on the hills overlooking the city of
Toronto. He was educated at Upper Canada College, which boasts the names
of a very large number of distinguished families on its rolls, and while
still a lad entered (1880) the great dry goods establishment which then
bore his father’s name and was founded by him in 1849. Under his
distinguished father’s guidance he received a sound business training,
and was thus, on the death of the latter, able to undertake the great
responsibility devolving upon him. The firm was made a Joint Stock
Company, of which he was appointed President in 1906. He is a Director
of the following: Bank of Toronto, Confederation Life Association,
Toronto Hotel Co., Ltd., Guarantee Company of North America, Millers and
Manufacturers Insurance Co., Humane Society, Hospital for Incurables,
Academy of Music. Honorary Governor Toronto General Hospital; member
Toronto Board of Trade; Chairman Bureau Municipal Research; Trustee and
Official, Yonge St. Methodist Church; Vice-Chairman, Financial
Committee; member Defence League. The late Hon. John Macdonald sat in
the Senate of Canada for several years, and was a most distinguished
figure in religious and philanthropic work. The subject of this sketch
is a man of varied interests and wide social popularity, while retaining
the sound business energy characteristic of his family. In the affairs
of his alma mater, Upper Canada College, he has taken a deep interest,
and was one of those public-spirited graduates who took an active part
in the work of reorganization which a few years ago put it on a sound
basis and largely increased its usefulness. He is also a member of the
Methodist Communion, in which his father was so long an eminent figure,
and has interested himself in the affairs of Yonge Street Methodist
Church, of which he is a Trustee. He holds the office of Justice of the
Peace, but fortunately is not compelled to frequently exercise his
function as a magistrate. Among the commercial organizations with which
he is identified, may be mentioned the Toronto Board of Trade, in which
he is prominent in the dry goods section. His is also one of the
best-known names on the roll of the Commercial Travellers’ Association,
one of the most powerful organizations in Canada. He is also a member of
the British Empire League, the object of which is to further the
progress of an enlightened Imperialism in Canada; of the well-known
benevolent society, the Ancient Order of United Workmen; of the
Caledonian Society, to which he belongs by virtue of his Scottish
descent; and is a member, also, by virtue of the family traditions, of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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