- Jean-Louis Lévesque
Jean-Louis Lévesque (
April 13 ,1911 -December 28 ,1994 ) was a Canadianentrepreneur , thoroughbred racehorse owner, andphilanthropist .J. Louis Lévesque was born in Nouvelle in Quebec's
Gaspé Peninsula to anAcadian father and an Irish mother. In 1934, he graduated with aB.A. degree fromSt. Dunstan's University inCharlottetown, Prince Edward Island . He then went to work for theProvincial Bank of Canada inMoncton, New Brunswick . After a few years in banking, his contacts led to an offer to join a Montreal stock brokerage firm as a salesman and his success led to his founding the investment firm Crédit Interprovincial Ltée. in 1941. Lévesque began buying small businesses that he believed were undervalued. He reorganized the companies and then sold some of them for a substantial profit while maintaining others where he saw long-term potential. He eventually merged his business with the securities firm L.G. Beaubien et Cie to formLévesque, Beaubien Inc. Specializing in government bonds, his brokerage company replacedLJ Forget et Cie as the largestFrench-Canadian securities firm in Canada.Highly respected throughout the country for his business acumen, Lévesque was appointed by the
Government of Canada to serve on the 1957Royal Commission onenergy that resulted in the creation of theNational Energy Board . He was invited to sit on theBoard of Directors of numerous large corporations such asAir Canada ,Dupuis Frères ,Canadian National Railways ,Provincial Bank of Canada , General Trust of Canada,Equitable Insurance , and Hilton Hotels of Canada, among others.J. Louis Lévesque had a special affinity with the
bilingual city ofMoncton, New Brunswick and was appointed Chancellor of theUniversity of Moncton in 1967, serving until 1972. He once famously invited a few Montreal friends to join him for dinner at a restaurant – one his surprised guests were flown to aboard a private jet that landed in Moncton where they dined on freshlobster .Having amassed a fortune, in his late sixties Lévesque set about planning his retirement with an eye to becoming more involved with the sport of
horse racing . He began divesting himself of the various companies he controlled including the sale toPower Corporation of Canada of hisholding company , TransCanada Funds. In 1988, the brokerage firm Lévesque, Beaubien Inc. became aNational Bank of Canada subsidiary.Among his many accolades, J. Louis Lévesque was voted into the
Canadian Business Hall of Fame .Horse racing
In 1956, J. Louis Lévesque bought a few
standardbred horse s forharness racing and then began investing inthoroughbred s. Through one of his holding companies, he purchased Blue Bonnets Raceway in Montreal in 1958 where a few years later he added a schedule ofThoroughbred horse race s. In addition, he acquired the Richelieu Raceway near Montreal and theWindsor Raceway inWindsor, Ontario . But it would be in Thoroughbred racing where Lévesque left his mark as a breeder and owner of champions. After hiring future Hall of Fame trainer,Yonnie Starr , in 1972 his two-year-oldfilly La Prevoyante went unbeaten and was voted the United StatesEclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Filly and the CanadianSovereign Award for Horse of the Year . In 1975 he won the prestigiousQueen's Plate withL'Enjoleur and won his second Canadian Horse of the Year award in 1978 with Fanfreluche.In 1976, La Prevoyante was part of the first group of inductees into the
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame . The a daughter ofBuckpasser , La Prevoyante was also inducted into the American Racing Hall of Fame in 1995. As well, Lévesque was part of the breeding syndicate that purchased the Triple Crown champion, Secretariat for a then-record price of $6.08 million.A friend of prominent racing owners
Bud McDougald andE. P. Taylor , in 1973 Lévesque became one of the founding members and a Trustee of theJockey Club of Canada . He was inducted into theCanadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1976 and in 1983 was voted the Sovereign Award as Canadian horse racing's "Man Of The Year."Beyond horse racing, Lévesque was a driving force behind the creation of the
Canadian Women's Open golf championship. Known at the time as "La Canadienne", it was the first-everLPGA tournament in Canada.In 1986, Jean-Louis Lévesque was inducted into
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame .Philanthropy
As a boy, Jean-Louis Lévesque lost his five-year-old sister to
meningitis and his eleven-year-old brother totyphoid fever . Their deaths profoundly impacted him and as an adult, when he had made his fortune, he became a very substantial contributor to philanthropic causes such ashospital s andmedical research .The Lévesque Foundation, established in 1961 and today run by his daughter
Suzanne Lévesque , has provided significant financial support to universities and other charitable organizations. Major benefactors include J. Louis Lévesque'salma mater , theUniversity of Prince Edward Island , plus theUniversity of Moncton inNew Brunswick , and Laval and Concordia universities in Quebec. He donated to theFlorida Heart Research Institute , where he had a winter home, and gave more than $10 million to theMontreal Heart Institute . Other medical institutions that have benefited from his philanthropic foundation include theMaisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital , theRoyal Victoria Hospital , and theMontreal General Hospital . As well, Lévesque provided support for theGaspé Museum inGaspé, Quebec .Included in his numerous laurels, Jean-Louis Lévesque received several honorary degrees from Canadian universities. In 1972 he and his wife were recipients of the
Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award and thePope made him a Commander of theOrder of St. Gregory the Great . In 1976 he was made a member of theOrder of Canada and in 1991 an officer of theNational Order of Quebec .Jean-Louis Lévesque died in Montreal on December 28, 1994 and was interred in the
Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.References
* "Jean-Louis Lévesque: a biography" -
Jules Belanger (R. Davies Multimedia - 1998) ISBN 1552070166
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