Collection F1878 - Robert O'Hara collection

Cockfield, Brown was founded in 1928 by Harry Cockfield and G. Warren Brown, in Montreal, Quebec. Over the next thirty years, it steadily grew to become one of the largest and most prestigious agencies in Canada, with branches in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver, serving such clients as Air Canada, Maclean-Hunter, and Canada Packers. In 1970, it became the only advertising agency in Canada to offer its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Although a majority of shares were controlled by its own employees, the company faced a forced merger with McConnell Advertising in 1978, then a hostile takeover in 1981. The attempts of the Board of Directors to repatriate the shares held by outsiders, combined with falling profit margins, drove the agency into bankruptcy in 1982. Robert O'Hara was hired in the mail department of the Toronto branch in 1950. Through no small effort, he rose to the position of vice-president by 1967, and became a director in 1977. In 1981, he resigned from the board and left the company over a matter of principle; he then sued the company for wrongful dismissal by claiming the conditions of his contract had been materially altered. The bulk of the material concerns Mr O'Hara's duties as a director from 1977 to 1981, and his legal battles from 1982 to 1990. While some material discusses the day-to-day operations of the company, most relates to the financial structure of the company and its direction after 1975.