Colonel
Robert Samuel McLaughlin,
CCThe 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...
,
EDThe Canadian Efficiency Decoration was a Canadian military award given to officers of the non-permanent active militia, RCAF Auxiliary and Reserve who completed twenty years of meritorious military service. Similar Efficiency Decorations were also awarded by other Commonwealth countries. A bar...
,
CDThe Canadian Forces Decoration is a Canadian award bestowed upon members of the Canadian Forces who have completed twelve years of military service, with certain conditions. By convention, it is also given to the Governor General of Canada upon his or her appointment as viceroy, which includes the...
(September 8, 1871 – January 6, 1972) was an influential
CanadianCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
businessman and philanthropist. He started the
McLaughlin Motor Car Co.The McLaughlin automobile company began life in 1876 as the McLaughlin Carriage Company, a blacksmith's shop in the village of Enniskillen, located north east of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The company began making horse-drawn carriages in the mid 19th Century, moving to Oshawa, Ontario in 1876...
in 1907, one of the first major automobile manufacturers in Canada, which evolved into
General Motors of CanadaGeneral Motors of Canada Limited is General Motors' Canadian division. Its national headquarters office, Canadian Regional Engineering Centre, and main manufacturing plants are located in Oshawa, Ontario. GM Canada is 100% owned by GM.As of Apr...
.
1895 became Partner McLaughlin Carrage Company
1901 Director and Sec-Treasurer McLaughlin Carrage Co Limited
1907 President McLaughlin Motor Car Company Limited
1910 Director General Motors Company (Detroit)
1915 Director and Treasurer Chevrolet Motor Company of Canada Ltd
1917 Director Dominion Bank of Canada to 1959
1918 Director and Vice-President of General Motors Corporation
1919 President General Motors of Canada Limited
1919 President of McLaughlin Motor Car Company Limited (New Co)
1919 President of Olds Motor Works of Canada Limited
1919 President Chevrolet Motor Company of Canada Limited (New Co)
1922 President Oakland Motor Car Company of Canada Limited
1923 President Cadillac Motor Car Company of Canada Limited
1923 President General Motors Truck Company of Canada Limited
1926 President General Motors Products of Canada Limited
1930 Director Canadian Pacific Railroad
Director of Power Corporation Genstar Limited
(this information from GM archives)
Born near Bowmanville in the hamlet of
EnniskillenEnniskillen is a community located in the municipality of Clarington, Ontario, Canada. Enniskillen was established in the early 1800s . Enniskillen has one school, Enniskillen Public School, which goes from junior kindergarten to grade 6. Enniskillen is mostly a farmer's community with one small...
,
OntarioOntario 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....
, the son of
Robert McLaughlinRobert McLaughlin was a Canadian industrialist and businessman. He founded the McLaughlin Carriage and McLaughlin Motor Car companies which later became part of General Motors....
, he started working in 1887 for his father's company, McLaughlin Carriage Works, at one time the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire. With engines from
William C. DurantWilliam Crapo "Billy" Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, the founder of General Motors and Chevrolet who created the system of multi-brand holding companies with different lines of cars....
of
BuickBuick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
he produced the McLaughlin-Buick Model F, establishing The McLaughlin Motor Car Company, incorporated on November 20, 1907. In 1908, its first full year of operation, it produced 154 cars. In 1910 he became a director of General Motors and sold his company in 1918 becoming president of
General Motors of CanadaGeneral Motors of Canada Limited is General Motors' Canadian division. Its national headquarters office, Canadian Regional Engineering Centre, and main manufacturing plants are located in Oshawa, Ontario. GM Canada is 100% owned by GM.As of Apr...
, which continued to sell cars under the McLaughlin-Buick brand until 1942. He retired in 1945, but remained chairman of the board until his death.
He remained on the Board of General Motors until the early 1960s, and was coincidentally replaced by Royal Bank of Canada President
Earle McLaughlinWilliam Earle McLaughlin, OC was a Canadian banker.Born in Oshawa, Ontario, Earle McLaughlin graduated with the gold medal in commerce from Queen's University and joined the Royal Bank of Canada in 1936. In 1960, at an age considered very young at the time, 45-year-old McLaughlin was appointed the...
, his first cousin once removed.
His brother, chemist J.J. McLaughlin, founded the
Canada DryCanada Dry is a brand of soft drinks owned since 2008 by the Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group. For over a century Canada Dry has been known for its ginger ale, though the company also manufactures a number of other soft drinks and mixers...
company. After J.J.'s death in 1912, Sam also became President of this company briefly until it was sold about 1917.
McLaughlin was appointed Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the
34th Ontario RegimentThe Ontario Regiment is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Canadian Forces Land Force Command. The unit is based in downtown Oshawa, Ontario...
in 1921 and held this position until 1931, at which time he was appointed Honorary Colonel of same unit, later designated as
The Ontario Regiment (RCAC)The Ontario Regiment is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Canadian Forces Land Force Command. The unit is based in downtown Oshawa, Ontario...
, a reserve armoured regiment based in Oshawa. Affectionately known as "Colonel Sam," McLaughlin served as Honorary Colonel until 1967, earning the distinction as the longest continuously serving Honorary Colonel in the history of the
Canadian ForcesThe Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
. In 1967 Sam McLaughlin was appointed a Companion of the
Order of CanadaThe 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...
.
Philanthropy
In 1951 he established the McLaughlin Foundation which donated nearly $200 million alone to the University of Toronto from 1953 to 2003 ,various causes, including the
McLaughlin PlanetariumThe McLaughlin Planetarium is a former working planetarium whose building occupies a space immediately to the south of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, at 100 Queen's Park. Founded by a grant from philanthropist Colonel R. Samuel McLaughlin, the facility was opened to the public on October 26,...
to the
Royal Ontario MuseumThe Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With its main entrance facing Bloor Street in Downtown Toronto, the museum is situated north of Queen's Park and east of Philosopher's Walk in the University of Toronto...
. His mansion,
Parkwood EstateThe Parkwood Estate, located in Oshawa, Ontario Canada was the home of Samuel McLaughlin and was home to the McLaughlins from 1917 until 1972. Construction began in 1916 by the Toronto architectural firm of Pearson and Darling...
, begun in 1916, was designed by the Toronto architectural firm of Darling and Pearson. In 1989, the Parkwood estate was officially designated a National Historic Site of Canada.
He was also a major contributor to Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario. The University's Mechanical Engineering Department is housed in McLaughlin Hall which was his donation in 1948. The McLaughlin Hall in the Queen's University's John Deutsch University Centre is also named for him. His wife Adelaide McLaughlin was honoured in 1957 by Queen's, which named the women's residence Adelaide Hall for her.
He provided partial funding to build a college at
York UniversityYork University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
in Toronto. Opened in 1968, it was named McLaughlin College in his honour.
McLaughlin Hall at St. Andrew's College in
Aurora, OntarioAurora is an affluent town in York Region, approximately 20 km north of Toronto. It is partially situated on the Oak Ridges Moraine, and is a part of the Greater Toronto Area and Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario.Many Aurora residents commute to Toronto and surrounding communities.In the...
, which he unveiled in 1971 at age 99, is named after him in recognition of his contributions to the school.
McLaughlin also endowed the Regimental Foundation of The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) and quietly paid the salaries of some of the regiment's soldiers during times of severely curtailed government funding.
Thoroughbred horse racing
In his youth, Samuel McLaughlin competed in
cyclingCycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
and
yachtingYachting refers to recreational sailing or boating, the specific act of sailing or using other water vessels for sporting purposes.-Competitive sailing:...
and was an
equestrianEquestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
show jumpingShow jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...
champion at competitions in Canada and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His love of horses led to the establishing of
Parkwood StableParkwood Stable was a thoroughbred racing stable founded in the early 1930s and expanded to include a breeding farm near Toronto, Ontario in 1937. Owned by the wealthy automobile maker Col...
, a thoroughbred horse racing and
breedingHorse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
farm located a few miles north of Oshawa, Ontario.
McLaughlin's horses won numerous races in Canada and in the U.S. his horses won important races including the 1942
Peter Pan StakesThe Peter Pan Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the second week of May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade II event, it is open to three-year-olds willing to race nine furlongs on the dirt....
at
Belmont ParkBelmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...
. A three-time winner of Canada's most prestigious race, the
Queen's PlateThe Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1ΒΌ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
, in 1934 his future Hall of Fame
coltA colt is a young male horse, under the age of four. The term "colt" is often confused with foal, which refers to a horse of either sex under one year of age....
HorometerHorometer was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by Col. Sam McLaughlin's Parkwood Stable, he was out of the mare Star Pal and sired by Hourless, the 1917 American Co-Champion 3-Yr-Old Male Horse and winner of the Belmont Stakes.Trained by Canadian Hall of Fame...
won both the Queens Plate and the
Breeders' StakesThe Breeders' Stakes is a Canadian stakes race for Thoroughbred race horses first run in 1889. Since 1959 it has been the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown for three-year-olds...
. In 1950, the nearly eighty-year-old McLaughlin retired from racing, selling his Parkwood Stable to
E. P. TaylorEdward Plunket Taylor was a Canadian business tycoon and famous breeder of thoroughbred race horses. Known to his friends as "Eddie", he is universally recorded as "E. P...
under whom it would become known as
Windfields FarmWindfields Farm is a six square kilometre thoroughbred horse breeding farm founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated with a property near the city of Toronto known as Parkwood Stable when it was owned by...
.
A long-time director of the Ontario Jockey Club, Colonel McLaughlin was inducted into
Canada's Sports Hall of FameCanada's Sports Hall of Fame is a hall of fame established in 1955 to "preserve the record of Canadian sports achievements and to promote a greater awareness of Canada's heritage of sport." It is located at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta...
in 1963 and the
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of FameThe Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and thoroughbred horse racing in Canada....
in 1977.
External links