Maurice Tanguay (20 September 1933 – 25 February 2021) was a Canadian businessman.

Biography

Tanguay was born in 1933 in

Saint-Philémon Saint-Philémon () is a parish municipality of about 700 people in the Bellechasse Regional County Municipality in the Chaudière-Appalaches administrative region of Quebec. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistic ...

. His father, Romeo, was a mechanic and owned a bus company. He graduated from the , where he played ice hockey. He opened his first company in Montmagny, which was a

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

and DeSoto dealership along with a

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service station. He then sold his business in 1960 to open a furniture store, which he called ''Ameublement Tanguay''. He was one of the first in the furniture market to offer credit to customers, which they could pay back after six months. He also acquired a dairy, which he used to gain extra financial traction while waiting for credit payments. Tanguay was always interested in sports, and founded his own junior hockey club in 1957 in Montmagny. He simultaneously created other hockey and baseball clubs in and around

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. At the same time, ''Ameublement Tanguay'' saw its business flourish, with $65,000 in sales in its first year and over $300 million in 2015. In 1987, he sold the business to Groupe BTMC. In 1991, he created the Fondation Maurice-Tanguay, which aimed to help sick and disabled children in eastern Quebec. From its foundation to 2011, it had raised and distributed nearly $12 million. In 1995, Tanguay acquired the

Saint-Jean Lynx The Saint-Jean Lynx were a junior ice hockey team which played from 1989 to 1995 in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They played at the Colisée Isabelle-Brasseur. In 1982, they moved from Sherbrooke where they were formerly the Sherbrooke C ...

of the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

and subsequently moved them to

Rimouski Rimouski ( ; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski, whose motto is ''Legi patrum fidelis'' (Faithful to ...

and renamed them the

Rimouski Océanic The Rimouski Océanic are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The franchise was granted for the 1969–70 season as the Sherbrooke Castors. The Castors played in Sherbrooke from 1969 to 1982 ...

. He administered the team until 2016, when he left it to his grandson, Alexandre Tanguay. Maurice Tanguay died in

Lévis Lévis () is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec Bridge and the Pierre-Laporte Bridge, connect we ...

on 25 February 2021 at the age of 87.

Honors

*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 ...

(2002) *

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) *

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal () or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. There are four versions of the medal: one iss ...

(2012) *Officer of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

(2012) *Induction into the (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanguay, Maurice Businesspeople from Quebec 1933 births 2021 deaths People from Chaudière-Appalaches Members of the Order of Canada Officers of the National Order of Quebec