Max Bell
Max Bell | |
---|---|
Born | October 13, 1911 Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada |
Died | July 19, 1972 Montreal, Quebec, Canada | (aged 60)
Occupation(s) | Newspaper publisher Oil and gas executive Racehorse owner Philanthropist |
George Maxwell Bell (October 13, 1911 – July 19, 1972)
Bell was a long time owner of
Early life
Bell was born October 13, 1911, in
Bell earned a degree in commerce from Montreal's
He met and married his first wife, Suzanne Staples, during this time and in 1935 returned to Calgary.[4] He returned to the Albertan, earning $35 per week as the classified advertising manager. Bell inherited the paper upon his father's death in 1936, however the Albertan was under the control of the Royal Bank of Canada against $500,000 in loans that the elder Bell had made.[5]
Additionally, Bell invested in an
In 1946, Canadian oilman Frank McMahon and Bell started Alberta Distillers Limited in Calgary, Alberta.
Newspaper career
Despite the oil strike, Bell continued to work for the Royal Bank at the Albertan. After seven years of what he called "clerking", he made a bid to regain his family's control of the paper. He convinced five friends in the oil and gas industry to form the Essex Company and put up $35,000 to operate the paper.[6] He then convinced the Royal Bank to give him control, and in mid-1943, was made publisher of the Albertan.[5] Under Bell's leadership, the paper returned to profitability, prompting the partners in Essex to raise his salary to $85 per week.[4] Within three years, Bell was able to repay both his partners in Essex and purchase full control of the paper from the bank.[7] Almost immediately after repaying his partners, Bell convinced them to purchase the Edmonton Bulletin. However, Bell lacked the capital to support the paper which was burdened with labour strife and aging equipment. He made the decision to fold the paper in 1951.[8]
While he worked to regain control of the Albertan, Bell also continued to invest in oil ventures. In 1944 he partnered with
Bell purchased the Victoria Times Colonist in 1959 for $750,000, and one year later built a plant to print both the Times and The Colonist, which he gained control of in 1953 for $1 million. In 1954, Bell acquired a controlling interest in the Lethbridge Herald.[5] He had a habit of appearing unannounced at the offices of his papers, often to chat with the editors, though never told them what to print.[11] Bell continued to acquire newspapers, joining with Victor Sifton, owner of the Winnipeg Free Press to purchase the Ottawa Journal in 1959. The pair combined their interests to form FP (Federated Paper) Publications Ltd. that same year. Bell purchased the Vancouver Sun in 1963, and Toronto's The Globe and Mail in 1965, making FP Publications Canada's largest newspaper syndicate.[5] By 1972, the papers had a combined circulation of over 820,000.[7]
Among acquisitions made outside the newspaper industry, Bell led a group that attempted to gain control of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1950. The bid was thought to have been motivated by the land and mineral rights that the company controlled, but was thwarted by company bylaws that prevented the transfer of such rights.[12] It was later suggested Bell backed out of the deal in the belief the company would struggle to adapt to his ideas.[7] By 1965, Bell was the largest single shareholder in Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).[13]
In addition to serving as a director for the CPR, Bell was also director for the Bank of Nova Scotia, a member of the board of governors of McGill University and was a senior director of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.[7]
Thoroughbred horse racing
A longtime
Bell partnered with
Among his biggest victories, Bell won the 1965
Max Bell was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1977.[14]
Personal life
Bell's first marriage was to Suzanne de Nancrede Staples (1917–2001). Suzanne's sister Katharine was the wife of George L. McMahon. The Bells had four children: sons Chester (died 1970) and Paul, and daughters Diane and Gretchen.[7] They divorced in 1949. In 1955 remarried to Agnes Eileen McKeown (1929–1999), who was widowed when her husband Frank McMahon Jr. was killed in an automobile accident in 1953.[10] The family maintained a winter home in Palm Desert, California, and a ranch in Okotoks.[5]
An ardent member of the Presbyterian Church, Bell was said to have read the Bible as often as his weekly horse racing forms.[10] He neither drank nor smoked, and was a generous donor to his church.[19] He enjoyed playing golf and badminton,[5] and frequently sailed his yacht, Campana, throughout the area around Vancouver Island and used it to ferry politicians and businessmen to a special forum on Canadian-American relations which he organized in 1959.[20] Bell was a supporter of organized sport at several levels and helped finance the Vancouver Canucks' entry into the National Hockey League.[7]
Bell fell ill to a neurological illness in 1967 resulting in numerous surgeries over the following five years. He died on July 19, 1972, at the
References
Footnotes
- ^ Birth date is according to his birth certificate. Several sources incorrectly cite his birth year as 1912
- ^ "G. M. Bell, western pioneer, publisher, is called by death". Calgary Daily Herald. March 20, 1936. p. 15. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ a b c Gray (2004), p. 190.
- ^ a b c Gray (2004), p. 191.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Max Bell dies in Montreal". Vancouver Sun. July 20, 1972. p. 1. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ Gray (2004), p. 192.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Max Bell dies; headed Albertan". Calgary Herald. July 20, 1972. p. 1. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ a b Gray (2004), p. 193.
- ^ Gray (2004), p. 195.
- ^ a b c Gray (2004), p. 196.
- ^ Byfield (2001), p. 46.
- ^ "The end of a big idea?". Financial Post. June 7, 1952. p. 30. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ "The Globe and Mail joins news chain". The New York Times. December 13, 1965. p. 23.
- ^ a b c d e "Max Bell, Builder, 1977". Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ Tower, Whitney (March 13, 1961). "Four-and-twenty, Skiddoo!". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- Montreal Gazette. June 28, 1965. p. 30. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ Gray (2004), p. 197.
- Montreal Gazette. June 25, 1968. p. 28. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ Byfield (2001), p. 47.
- ^ a b Gray (2004), p. 198.
General
- Byfield, Ted, ed. (2001), Alberta in the 20th Century: Leduc, Manning & the Age of Prosperity, 1946–1963, vol. 9, Edmonton, Alberta: United Western Communications, ISBN 0-9695718-9-5
- Gray, Earle (2004), The Great Canadian Oil Patch (PDF) (second ed.), Edmonton, Alberta: JuneWarren Publishing, ISBN 0-9737342-0-5
External links
- Max Bell Foundation biography
- Davis, Chuck (December 15, 2013). "George Maxwell Bell". The Canadian Encyclopedia (online ed.). Historica Canada.