This man, at the ripe old age of eighty-five years, held the following jobs all at the same time, in Canada, in 1905:- Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company
- President of the Bank of Montreal
- Director and Executive Committee Member of the CPR
- President of Royal Trust
- Canada's High Commissioner to Britain
- Chairman of Burmah Oil and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
He ran the HBC, a railway, a bank and a trust company, and a couple of oil companies all while holding a high position in government.
This was Sir Donald Alexander Smith who was born in 1820 in Scotland, arrived in Canada 1838, and died in 1914 at the age of 94 in London, England. Most people remember him for driving the last spike at Craigellachie.
I have just started reading Peter C. Neuman's Merchant Princes and have discovered this intriguing character from our past and will tell you some more about him in the next few days.
It has me thinking again about retirement and the work ethic. Here is a role model to consider.
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