- John Bitove, Sr.
John L.N. Bitove, Sr. or John BitovCowan, Jane K. (2000). "Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference". Pluto Press. p. 77. ISBN 0-7453-1589-5. Google Book Search. Retrieved on January 21, 2008. - "John Bitov is a successful businessman now living in Toronto. Of Slavo-Macedonian origin, he hails from the village of Gavros, Kastoria prefecture."] (born 1928 in
Toronto ,Canada ) is a Canadian businessman ofethnic Macedonian descent.Biography
Early life
John L.N. Bitove, Sr. was born in
Toronto to Nicholas and Vana, who in 1919 immigrated to Canada from Gavros, a village located in theKastoria Prefecture of Macedonia,Greece .Business career
He built, operated and developed many restaurants across Canada, including the JB's Big Boy Family Restaurants. In 1982 one of his companies obtained all of the food and beverage catering at the
Toronto Pearson International Airport . In 1983 he obtained the catering rights to Toronto's SkyDome, nowRogers Centre and in 1989, he merged his existing companies to form the Bitove Corporation, at that time one of Canada's largest privately heldfood service companies. In the same year, he was awarded theOrder of Canada .He is a director of several companies, including Oppenheimer & Co. He also organizes, and is involved in, many charitable activities, most notably the founding of Canadian Macedonian Place, a home for the aged people of Macedonian descent in Canada [ [http://www.maknews.com/html/articles/ristova/zafirovski.html Gala Raises $1.3 Million for Scholarships and Canadian Macedonian Palace] by Liljana Ristovska. "Canadian Macedonian News".
November 16 ,2006 .] as well as Pro-Action, a partnership with theMetropolitan Toronto Police to fund programs in high-risk youth areas of Toronto. Bitove, Sr. is also a member of theBoard of Directors of the 'Macedonia 2025' project [ [http://www.macedonia2025.com/bio.php Board of Directors] Macedonia 2025] which is a project that was presented byMike Zafirovski to thePrime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia ,Nikola Gruevski , in order to try and improve the economy of theRepublic of Macedonia [ [http://vlada.mk/english/News/December2006/ei1-12-2006.htm Nortel office to be opened in Macedonia in 2007] Government of the Republic of Macedonia] ] .Personal life
He is married to Dotsa and has five children — Vonna, Tom, Nick, John and Jordan.
References
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