Albert Diamond Cohen, LLD (January 20, 1914 – November 21, 2011) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

entrepreneur, community builder,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

, and Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. He was Chairman, Co-President and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Gendis Inc., a

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listed Canadian real estate and investment company headquartered in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

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. At one time, Gendis held a 51% stake in Sony of Canada and owned the

SAAN Stores SAAN Stores Ltd. was a Canadian chain of discount department stores founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba. SAAN is short for Surplus Army, Air Force, Navy. The chain's head office was in Mississauga, Ontario, and its main distribution center and Stores ...

retail chain. He was the author of several books: ''The Entrepreneurs: The Story of Gendis Inc''...''The Triangle of Success: The Gendis/Saan Story''...''The Story of SAAN''...and...''I.D.E.A.'' His latest and last book, published in the fall of 2010, was titled ''Reminiscences of an Entrepreneur - How Sony came to Canada and then to the World in 1955''. His interest and talent for writing stemmed from his close personal friendship with the late British author

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

. Cohen was married to Irena Cohen (née Kankova) from 1953 until his death, and they had three children: Anthony, James, and Anna-Lisa. He died at the age of 97 years, 10 months, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Background

Cohen came from a poor immigrant family of eight, born in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

as the son of Alexander and Rose (Diamond) Cohen, and he served with the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

from 1942 to 1945. Albert's five brothers, John C. (Chauncey), Harry B. Cohen, Morley Cohen, Samuel N. Cohen, and Joseph H. Cohen set up a small retail store and, by 1939, the family had scraped together enough monies to create General Distributors Ltd., a wholesale import firm.

Sony and the Cohen Brothers

By 1950, General Distributors sales amounted to $1 million. In 1952, the company obtained exclusive Canadian rights for

Paper Mate Paper Mate is a division of Sanford L.P., a Newell Brands company that produces writing instruments. Paper Mate's offices are located in Oak Brook, Illinois, along with those of Newell Rubbermaid's other office products divisions. Its product ...

pens. Albert negotiated the sale of Papermate in Canada to the

Gillette (brand) Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

Company of

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in 1955 whereby Gendis continued to distribute the Papermate pen in Canada until 1962 when Gillette fully took over. Then, in 1955, Cohen accomplished the feat of landing the Canadian distribution rights to

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

products. Spotting an ad in a Japanese newspaper seeking a distributor for a new portable

transistor radio A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Previous portable radios used vacuum tubes, which were bulky, fragile, had a limited lifetime, consumed excessive power and required large heavy batteri ...

, Cohen met with Sony co-founder,

Akio Morita was a Japanese entrepreneur and co-founder of Sony along with Masaru Ibuka. Early life Akio Morita was born in Nagoya. Morita's family was involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production in the village of Kosugaya (currently a part of Toko ...

. On the basis of a handshake deal, Cohen cemented a partnership that would last for decades. The Cohen brothers scattered across Canada in order to manage the national business, each brother establishing himself in a major city: Morley (

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

), John (

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

), Joe (

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

), Harry (

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

), and both Sam and Albert setting up headquarters (

). Gendis' stake in Sony of Canada was sold back to

Corporation of

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Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in 1995 for $207,000,000. This was a crowning achievement for Albert, the man who launched Sony's first national export business. In recognition of his forty-year association with Sony, Albert received the Sony Lifetime Achievement Award in Tokyo in 2000.

SAAN, Metropolitan, real estate, and the Cohen Brothers

The six brothers expanded into real estate and

retailing Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

. Over the years, they established several hundred

as well as

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

and Greenberg junior department stores in all provinces of Canada. The explosive growth of the

chain was guided by Samuel N. Cohen while Metropolitan's expansion was overseen by Morley Cohen. By 1983, the company was a diversified Canadian conglomerate, renamed ''Gendis.''

was eventually sold in 2004 to a

based investor group and sold again in 2008 to Genuity Capital, owner of

The Bargain! Shop The Bargain! Shop Holdings, Inc., also known as TB!S, is a Canadian discount variety store chain operating in all Anglophone provinces in Canada, except PEI. The Bargain! Shop originated as a closeout store division of Woolworth Canada, devel ...

discount chain. At one point, it is said the Cohen brothers owned downtown real estate in almost every major Canadian city. Albert began to accumulate real estate in downtown Winnipeg starting in the early 1960s and Gendis finally sold its city block of property to

Manitoba Hydro The Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board (), operating as Manitoba Hydro, is the electric power and natural gas public utility, utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1961, it is a provincial Crown Corporation, governed by the Manitoba ...

in 2003 for $16.2 million to allow for construction of the new Manitoba Hydro headquarters which officially opened in September 2009.

Oil & gas, and the Cohen Brothers

Under Albert's guidance, the six brothers made several investments in the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...

Gendis today

Through a variety of investment companies, the Cohen family is the largest shareholder of Gendis Inc., as well as major shareholders of Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation, (TSX-listed), and privately held Vive Crop Protection, of Toronto, Ontario. James Cohen (Albert's youngest son) is the President and CEO of Gendis Inc.and served as interim President and Chief Operating Officer of

in 2004 during the sale of the retail chain. Today the company is focused on investments in three areas: commercial real estate, energy and the agribusiness sector.

Philanthropy

Cohen was considered to be one of the major community builders/philanthropists in Winnipeg and he was a large contributor to the

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...

Manitoba Theatre Centre Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Royal MTC) is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. Next to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, MTC has a higher annual attendance than any other theatre in the country. It was founded in 1958 by J ...

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1947, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at the Centennial Concert Hall. Including travelling performances, the WSO presents an average of ...

Manitoba Opera Manitoba Opera is a full-time professional opera company in Winnipeg, Manitoba, based at the Centennial Concert Hall. Founded in 1969, Manitoba Opera is one of several Western Canada, western Canadian opera companies that flourished under the so- ...

, and various Winnipeg hospitals. Several of his notable accomplishments include: * Founding Member, Canada-Japan Business Council * Former President,

(1968–1969, 1970–1971, 1976–1981) * Former President,

Clinic Research Institute (1975–1980) * Former President, Dr.

Paul Thorlakson Paul Henrik Thorbjorn Thorlakson, (October 5, 1895 – October 19, 1989) was a Canadian physician and Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. Paul Thorlaksonwas born in Park River, North Dakota and grew up in Selkirk, Manitoba. He was the thi ...

Research Foundation (1978–1980) * Past Commissioner, Metric Board, Ottawa (1978)

Awards

* Man of the Year, Sales and Advertising Club, Winnipeg (1974) *

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

(1983) * International Distinguished

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

Award (IDEA),

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

, Asper School of Business)(1983) * National Business Book Award, The Entrepreneurs: the Story of Gendis (1986) * Honorary Doctorate,

(1987) * The Albert D. Cohen Building at

St. John's-Ravenscourt School St. John's-Ravenscourt School (commonly referred to as SJR) is an independent, co-educational, university-preparatory school founded in 1820. Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the school delivers an enriched curriculum from Kindergarten through Grade ...

(1990) * Order of Excellence Achievement Award,

Sport Directorate (renamed Sport Manitoba) (1990) *

125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal The 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal () is a commemorative medal struck by the Royal Canadian Mint to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada and was awarded to Canadians who were deemed to have made ...

(1992) *

Officer of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian national order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the centennial of Canadian Confederation, the ...

(1994) *

Canadian Business Hall of Fame The Canadian Business Hall of Fame celebrates the outstanding achievements of Canada's most distinguished business leaders, past and present. Over 170 Order of the Business Hall of Fame Companions serve as inspiring examples for all young Canadians ...

(1994) * Albert D. Cohen Management

Library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

at the

Asper School of Business The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

Lifetime Achievement Award (2000) *

Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal () or the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal was ...

(2002) *

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

, 3rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (Japan) (2011) * Manitoba Business Hall of Fame Inductee (2013) While Cohen has collected an array of awards for business achievements and community service during his life, he was particularly proud of the fact that he holds three Canadian

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skat ...

records in Master 5 Class (over 70 age category), as per the

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Amateur Speedskating Association.

General references

* * * * * * * * As per Gendis Inc. website: www.gendis.ca

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Albert 1914 births 2011 deaths Businesspeople from Winnipeg Canadian chief executives Canadian Jews Canadian philanthropists Officers of the Order of Canada Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class Royal Canadian Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century Canadian philanthropists