Ray Lawson
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The Honourable Ray Lawson OBE |
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|---|---|
 |
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| 17th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario | |
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In office December 26, 1946 – February 18, 1952 |
|
| Monarch |
George VI Elizabeth II |
| Governor General |
The Viscount Alexander of Tunis Vincent Massey |
| Premier |
George A. Drew Thomas Laird Kennedy Leslie Frost |
| Preceded by | Albert Edward Matthews |
| Succeeded by | Louis Orville Breithaupt |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Frank Ray Lawson August 30, 1886 London, Ontario |
| Died | April 4, 1980 (aged 93) London, Ontario |
| Spouse(s) | Helen Newton (m. 1909) |
| Children | 5 |
| Profession | Businessman |
| Religion | Anglicans |
Frank Ray Lawson, OBE (August 30, 1886 – April 4, 1980), was the 17th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Canada, from 1946 to 1952.
Born in London, Ontario, he was the son of Francis Edgar ("Frank") Lawson, a former newspaper reporter, and Lorena Hodgins, a former teacher. He studied at London Collegiate and attended Woodstock College in 1902, but left after less than a year, eager to begin a business career. At age 17, he began working as a clerk in a London dry goods business, and later worked as a traveling salesman for a wholesale jeweler, before becoming a traveling salesman for Lawson & Jones Limited, the printing firm co-founded by his father. In 1909 he married Helen Newton and they later had five children.
In 1911, following the sudden death of his father, Lawson returned to London and assumed his father's position with Lawson & Jones. In 1913, he borrowed heavily to purchase the shares held by the Jones family and, at the age of 26, became the company's president, director and major shareholder. In addition to printing druggists' labels and calendars, in 1916 Lawson & Jones entered into a profitable arrangement to manufacture cigarette packaging for Imperial Tobacco. By 1920, Lawson had retired the debt he incurred and throughout the depression the company grew by acquiring and consolidating other printing concerns.
When war broke out in 1939, Lawson went to work for C.D. Howe, Canadian Federal Minister of Munitions and Supply, as a "dollar-a-year-man", and was appointed president of Federal Aircraft Limited, a crown corporation established in Montreal to manufacture the Avro Anson trainer for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. He was named an Officer of the Order of the British empire in 1942.
During his career, Lawson was a senior executive or director of 20 Canadian companies, including: president, Lawson & Jones Ltd., president, Canadian Containers; president, Midland Securities, Ltd.; vice-president and director, The Royal Bank of Canada; director, Traders Finance Corporation Limited; director, London & Western Trust Co. Ltd.; vice-president and director, Canada Trust Company Ltd.; director, Huron & Erie Loan and Savings Company; director, Northern Life Assurance Co. of Canada; director, Toronto General Insurance; director, Great Lakes Paper. Eight universities conferred honorary degrees on him.
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