Sir Charles Blair Gordon (22 November 186730 July 1939) 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 ...

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

Life and career

Educated at the

High School of Montreal The High School of Montreal was an English-language high school founded in 1843, serving Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the area eventually known as the Golden Square Mile. It was less formally known as Montreal High School and from 1853 to 1870 was ...

, Gordon founded the Standard Shirt Company, organized

Dominion Textile The Dominion Textile Inc. or Domtex was a Canadian textile manufacturer that was founded in 1905 and closed in 1998 when its remains were purchased by the American Polymer Group, at the time headed by Jerry Zucker. History Following the institu ...

in 1904, and in 1909 became president of Dominion Glass Company Limited, which was later known as Domglas. In 1913, he was appointed a director of the

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (, ), abbreviated as BMO (pronounced ), is a Canadian multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank, making it Canada ...

, and in 1927 became the bank's president. From 1918 to 1921, he was Acting Chairman (Canadian War Mission) to the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

in Washington. In 1917, for his contributions, he was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, and in 1918 was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the order. In 1922, Ernest Hemingway described Gordon as “blonde, ruddy-faced and a little ill at ease”. Gordon was one of the founders of the Town of

Hampstead, Quebec Hampstead is an on-island suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an independent municipality bordering the municipality of Côte Saint-Luc and the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough of Montreal. History The Town of Hampstead w ...

and served as Vice President of the Hampstead Land and Construction Co.Town History, Town of Hampstead website
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References

External links

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Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Complete List of Posts
Diplomats for Canada Canadian bankers 1867 births 1939 deaths Canadian Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire High School of Montreal alumni People from Hampstead, Quebec {{Canada-diplomat-stub