Samuel McLaughlin
| R. Samuel McLaughlin | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
September 8, 1871 Enniskillen, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | January 6, 1972 (aged 100) Oshawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Businessman and philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Adelaide Louise Mowbray |
| Children | five daughters |
| Awards | Order of Canada |
Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, CC, ED, CD (September 8, 1871 – January 6, 1972) was an influential Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Company in 1907, one of the first major automobile manufacturers in Canada, which evolved into General Motors of Canada.
McLaughlin was born near Bowmanville in the hamlet of Enniskillen, Ontario, the son of Robert McLaughlin and Mary Smith. As a young man he worked for a short time in a local hardware store, and then in 1887 became an apprentice in the upholstery shop of his father's company, McLaughlin Carriage Works, which had opened in 1867 and at one was the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire.
In 1890 McLaughlin took a job in the Watertown, New York upholstery company, H. H. Babcock.
In 1892 McLaughlin and his brother George become junior partners in their father's company. In 1898 he married Adelaide Mowbray. With engines from William C. Durant of Buick, he produced the McLaughlin-Buick Model F, establishing The McLaughlin Motor Car Company, incorporated on November 20, 1907. In 1908, its first full year of operation, it produced 154 cars.
In 1910, he became a director of General Motors. He sold his Chevrolet company stock in 1918, becoming president of General Motors of Canada, which continued to sell cars under the McLaughlin-Buick brand until 1942. He retired in 1945, but remained chairman of the board until his death. He remained on the board of General Motors until the early 1960s, and was coincidentally replaced by Royal Bank of Canada president Earle McLaughlin, his first cousin once removed.
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