Gordon, Donald

Person

Gordon, Donald

1901-1969

Donald Gordon, a banker and businessman, was born in Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on 11 Dec. 1901, the son of John Gordon and Margaret L. (Watt) Gordon. In 1914 the Gordon family emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto where Donald got a job in a box factory for a short time before being sent to Manning Avenue School. When he reached the legal school-leaving age of fourteen, he began work as a blacksmith’s helper. He worked as an electrician’s helper and a magazine delivery boy during the next two years. In 1916 Gordon accepted a job at the bank of Nova Scotia in Toronto. Over the next seven years, Gordon spent five of those years at night school. He took commercial correspondence and extramural courses at Queen’s University and earned the equivalent to a degree in Economics as a Fellow of the Canadian Bankers’ Association.

In February 1935, Gordon was appointed as the Secretary of the Bank of Canada on its establishment. Becoming Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada in 1938, he then served as chairman of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board. Between November 1941 to April 1947, Gordon was was appointed Director of the Industrial Development Bank on its creation in 1944. After he resigned from the Wartime Prices and Trade Board, he returned to the Bank of Canada and the Foreign Exchange Control Board. In 1948 he was appointed Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. On January 1, 1950, Gordon became Chairman, President and Director of the Canadian National Railways, which he held until 1966. He was also Director of Air Canada from 1950 until 1966. In 1967 he became President of British Newfoundland Corporation Limited (Brinco) and Chairman of Churchill Falls (Labrador) Limited, A Brinco subsidiary.

Donald Gordon’s association with Queen’s University extended over four decades. It began with his enrolment in the courses in Banking. In 1947 the University conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws on him. In 1951, the Board of Trustees elected him to this Board. Appointed to the Executive Committee in 1964 Gordon was also a member of the Finance Committee from May 1965 until his death. He was highly effective in helping to raise funds for Skelton-Clark Foundation and was indefatigable in his work of soliciting “special names” in the Capital Appeal of 1964. The University has honoured Mr. Gordon by naming a residence “Donald Gordon Hall” and also the “Donald Gordon Hotel and Conference Centre.”

Donald Gordon died in Montreal on May 2, 1969.

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Biographical sketch based on "History - Donald Gordon" from https://www.queensu.ca/donaldgordoncentre/about/our-story (accessed 2022-04-18).