J.W. McConnell

Financier, Philanthropist, Patriot

William Fong

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780773532700
• eBook ISBN: 9780773577800
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: History

J.W. McConnell (1877-1963), born to a poor farming family in Ontario, became one of the wealthiest and most powerful businessmen of his generation - in Canada and internationally. Early in his career McConnell established the Montreal office of the Standard Chemical Company and began selling bonds and shares in both North America and Europe, establishing relationships that would lead to his enormous financial success. He was involved in numerous businesses, from tramways to ladies' fashion to mining, and served on the boards of several corporations. For nearly fifty years he was president of St Laurence Sugar and late in life he became the owner and publisher of the Montreal Star. McConnell was an indefatigable and formidable fundraiser for the YMCA, the war effort of 1914/18, hospitals, and McGill University, where he served as governor for almost three decades. In 1937 he established what would become The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the first major foundation in Canada and still one of the best endowed. J.W. McConnell was a principled and brilliant visionary with a strong work ethic and a deep commitment to the public good, a Rockefellerian figure in both big business and high society who quietly became one of the greatest philanthropists of his time. His life story - told in uncompromising detail by William Fong - is a study of raising, spending, and giving away money on the grandest scale.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• Chapter One A Boyhood in Muskoka: Blood, Religion, Sentiment, and Community, 1877–91
• Chapter Two Onward, Ever Onward, Jack: Toronto and the Making of a Man, 1892–99
• Chapter Three Selling Wood Products and Settling Down, 1899–1907
• Chapter Four Partner, Promoter, and Believer, 1907–1914
• Chapter Five Bittersweet: St Lawrence Sugar and Regulation, 1912–63
• Chapter Six Keep the Home Fires Burning: Fundraising for the YMCA in Peace and for Canada in the Great War, 1909–19
• Chapter Seven Developing and Financing Tramways and Electricity, 1890–1925
• Chapter Eight The Rise and Fall of Holding Companies for Power and Paper, 1925–39
• Chapter Nine Almost a Jack of All Trades, 1911–39
• Chapter Ten Insecurities: McConnell’s Investments, 1921–39
• Chapter Eleven Wider, Ever Wider Shall Thy Bounds Be Set: Social Life in Montreal, 1901–63
• Chapter Twelve For King and Empire, 1927–39
• Chapter Thirteen Faith and Works: From Charity to Social Welfare and from Fundraising to Philanthropy, 1922–45
• Chapter Fourteen There’ll Always Be an England: The Second World War, 1939–45
• Chapter Fifteen The Dilemma of Conservative Politics, 1911–63
• Chapter Sixteen Press Barons, Publishers, and Editors: The Montreal Daily Star and Other Newspapers, 1925–53
• Chapter Seventeen Grandescunt Aucta Labore: Building McGill University for the Future, 1920–63
• Chapter Eighteen We Give Thee but Thine Own: The Making of the McConnell Foundation, 1928–63
• Chapter Nineteen Keep Right on to the End of the Road, 1945–63
• Appendix One Survey of J.W. McConnell’s Investments, 1921–51
• Appendix Two A Glimpse of the Interconnectedness of McConnell’s Circle
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index