George Cohon
| George Cohon | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
George Alan Cohon April 19, 1937 Chicago, Illinois |
| Known for | Founder and senior chairman of McDonald's of Canada and McDonald's of Russia |
| Awards |
Order of Canada Order of Ontario |
George Alan Cohon, OC OOnt (born April 19, 1937) is an American-born Canadian businessman who is the founder and senior chairman of McDonald's of Canada and McDonald's of Russia.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, he received a B.Sc. from Drake University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Northwestern University School of Law. He practiced corporate law in Chicago from 1961 through 1967. In 1967 he moved to Toronto, Ontario, as the licensee of McDonald’s Corporation for Eastern Canada. In 1971, he became chairman, president and chief executive officer of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada.
He was involved in opening McDonald's in the former Soviet Union with the first restaurant opening in Moscow in 1990. The first restaurant was at the time McDonald's biggest, and was opened with minimal involvement from the U.S. parent company, for political reasons. It accepted only Russian rubles, not hard currency, and in the early days, the line to enter the restaurant could be several hours long. Due to Soviet supply shortages, the company created its own supply chain in the Soviet Union, including farms and packaging. At the 1991 G7 Summit in London, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Cohon's personal friend) personally complained to Mikhail Gorbachev about the difficulties Cohon was experiencing doing business in the Soviet Union.
He is the founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides accommodation for families whose children are receiving medical treatment, in Canada and in Russia.
He is a member of the board of directors of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited and was on the board of the Royal Bank of Canada as well as on the Board of Astral Inc. before it was taken over by Bell Canada. He was a member of the board of governors of York University between 1982 and 1995.
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