Francis O’Dea, OC

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

 (born 1945 in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

) is a Canadian entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

, humanitarian and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

. He left a lifestyle of homeless

Homelessness

Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...

 panhandling

Begging

Begging is to entreat earnestly, implore, or supplicate. It often occurs for the purpose of securing a material benefit, generally for a gift, donation or charitable donation...

 and in 1975 co-founded the Second Cup

Second Cup

Second Cup is Canada's largest Canadian-based specialty coffee retailer, operating more than 360 cafés across Canada. Its headquarters are in Mississauga, Ontario. Founded in 1975 by Tom Culligan and Frank O'Dea, Culligan eventually purchased O'Dea's shares. After building it to a 150-store chain,...

 chain of coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 stores with Tom Culligan

Tom Culligan

Tom Culligan is a Canadian entrepreneur and author.Culligan was born in Belledune, New Brunswick. In 1975 Culligan teamed up with Frank O'Dea to found the Second Cup chain of coffee shops...

. He is currently the Chair of AGSI Global and sits on the board of directors of Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He regularly speaks professionally on the subjects of his personal and business life.

He was involved with the founding of Proshred Holdings Ltd. an international document destruction service (1986) and Samaritan Air Service, a regional air ambulance

Air ambulance

An air ambulance is an aircraft used for emergency medical assistance in situations where either a traditional ambulance cannot reach the scene easily or quickly enough, or the patient needs to be transported over a distance or terrain that makes air transportation the most practical transport....

 service (1989).

O'Dea became founding President of Renascent Treatment Foundation, (1983), founded Street Kids International

Street Kids International

Street Kids International is a Canadian based non-governmental organization founded by Peter Dalglish in 1988. The organization focuses on providing street youth with the opportunity to lead safer and better lives through three main programme avenues: street health, street work and street rights...

, with Peter Dagleish, (1988), and the Canadian Landmine Foundation

Canadian Landmine Foundation

The Canadian Landmine Foundation is a Canadian charity that seeks to "raise awareness and funds to end the human and economic suffering caused by anti-personnel landmines"....

 (1999). Supported by Colin Powell, Sir Paul McCartney and Kofi Annan, he initiated the international charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

, Night of a Thousand Dinners (2000).

Awards and recognition

• 1991: Ontario
  Ontario
  Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
  
   Volunteer award
• 2004: Officer of the Order of Canada
  Order of Canada
  The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
  
  
• 2005: Life Board Member Renascent Treatment Foundation
• 2005: Doctor of Laws degree, Royal Roads University
  Royal Roads University
  Royal Roads University is a public university located in Colwood, Greater Victoria, British Columbia, that describes itself as "Canada's University for Working Professionals".-Overview:...
  
  
• 2008: Doctor of Laws degree, Carleton Convocation

Books

• 2007: When All You Have is Hope (Penguin Canada
  Penguin Books
  Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
  
  ) ISBN 978-067006427-4

External links

• Order of Canada citation: Frank O'Dea
• Frank O'Dea Interview on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos
  George Stroumboulopoulos
  George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos is a Canadian television and radio personality, best known as the host of CBC Television's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and being a VJ for Canadian music television channel MuchMusic...