Allan Slaight
| Allan Slaight | |
|---|---|
| Born |
John Allan Slaight July 19, 1931 Galt, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Media Mogul |
| Known for | Founder of Slaight Communications and former owner of Standard Broadcasting Former Co-owner of the Toronto Raptors |
| Home town | Toronto, Ontario |
| Spouse(s) | Ada Mitchell (1950–1987) Emanuelle Gattuso (1997–present) |
| Children | 3 |
Allan Slaight (also J. Allan Slaight) (born July 19, 1931) is a Canadian rock and roll pioneer, media mogul, and philanthropist. From his beginning as an amateur magician to his career spent in radio, Slaight rose to become the President of Global Television, president of Slaight Communications, and the president and CEO of Standard Broadcasting Corporation Limited, Canada's largest privately owned multi-media company. Slaight is Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Slaight Communications and an active philanthropist serving as founder of the Slaight Family Foundation.
John Allan Slaight was born in Galt (now Cambridge), Ontario, Canada to Florence Eileen Wright and John Edgar (Jack) Slaight, a newspaperman who worked for the Galt Evening Reporter (now Cambridge Reporter). His family (including Slaight's younger siblings Brian and Ann) moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan when his father Jack bought the Moose Jaw Times-Herald in 1945. Jack Slaight was also the eventual co-owner of Moose Jaw radio station CHAB-AM, one of Canada's first radio stations.
An avid magician since his youth, Slaight honed his skills starting at age eight, when a trip to Toronto at Christmas time sparked his imagination about the wonders and secrets behind magic after becoming mesmerized by Johnny Giordmaine's performance at the Toyland section of Eaton's department store.
His fascination with the elegance of sleight-of-hand and what Slaight himself terms "the brilliance of inventions" resulted in a robust job as a performer touring Western Canada as mind reader "Will Powers", and where he performed a large scale magic show under the "Slaight & Co" banner. His travelling magic show would often see him spend 14 hours away from home visiting small towns to perform for $10. Slaight's travelling magician's show was no doubt inspired from his early days in the 1940s performing for his grandfather's staff at a local bank in Galt for $2, or his regular performances at conventions and at the Rotary Club in Moose Jaw. So prominent was magic in young Slaight's life that he toyed with the idea of performing on a permanent basis, and would have done so, Slaight later admitted, had it been profitable.
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