Neil John McKinnon (17 January 1911 – 4 August 1975) was a Canadian banker who served as president and chairman of the

Canadian Bank of Commerce The Canadian Bank of Commerce was a Canadian bank that operated from 1867 to 1961. It merged in 1961 with the Imperial Bank of Canada to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which today is one of Canada's Big Five banks of Canada, Big Five ...

, and president and chairman of the

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; ) is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of Toronto, Ont ...

. McKinnon joined the Bank of Commerce in 1925 in

Cobalt, Ontario Cobalt is a town in Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada. It had a population of 989 at the 2021 Census. In the early 1900s, the area was heavily mined for silver; the silver ore also contained cobalt. By 1910, the community was the fourth hi ...

at age 14. In 1945 he was posted to the bank's head office in Toronto as assistant general manager. In 1952 he was appointed general manager, and in 1954 was appointed a vice-president and elected a director. In 1956 he was appointed president, and in 1959 was elected chairman of the board. When the Bank of Commerce merged with the

Imperial Bank of Canada The Imperial Bank of Canada was a Canadian bank that operated from 1873 to 1961. In 1961, Imperial merged with the Canadian Bank of Commerce to become the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. History It was founded in 1873 as the Imperial Bank ...

on 1 June 1961, McKinnon became president of the new bank, and in 1963 he ceded the presidency to become chairman of the board. McKinnon retired as chairman in December 1973. He died on 4 August 1975 at age 64.

Biography

Neil John McKinnon was born on 17 January 1911 in Cobalt, Ontario to Malcolm McKinnon and Selina Francis McCauley. He joined the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1925 at age 14. In 1945 he was posted to the bank's head office in Toronto, where he became assistant general manager, and in 1952 he became general manager. Aged 41, McKinnon was the bank's youngest general manager since Sir Byron Edmund Walker assumed the position in 1886 at age 38. In December 1956, McKinnon succeeded James Stewart as the bank's president, and in 1959 succeeded Stewart as chairman. When the Canadian Bank of Commerce merged with the Imperial Bank of Canada on 1 June 1961, McKinnon became president and chief executive officer of the new bank, while Imperial's chairman Lindsay Stuart Mackersy became chairman of the board. On 23 May 1963, McKinnon succeeded Mackersey as chairman, while Page Wadsworth succeeded McKinnon as president. At the end of 1965 he relinquished the title of chief executive officer. McKinnon retired as chairman in December 1973. McKinnon was a member of the

Toronto Club The Toronto Club is a private members' club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded on March 20, 1837, it is the oldest private club in Canada, and third oldest in North America. The clubhouse, located at 107 Wellington Street West (at York Street ...

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Rosedale Golf Club Rosedale Golf Club is a private golf club in Toronto, founded in 1893 in Moore Park. The course hosted the Canadian Open in 1912 and 1928. History Founded in 1893 in Moore Park as a 9-hole course and moved to Rosedale, Toronto in 1895–1896 o ...

Mount Royal Club The Mount Royal Club is a private social club in Montreal, Quebec. The club was founded as a gentlemen's club in 1899 by a breakaway group from the Saint James's Club, but in 1990 became mixed-sex. In its prime, the Mount Royal was Canada's most ...

Rideau Club The Rideau Club is a private social club in Ottawa, Ontario. The club was founded in 1865 by Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier as a gentlemen's club, but since 1979 has been mixed-sex. For much of its history the club was pop ...

, and

Links Club The Links is a private club in New York City. It is located at 36 East 62nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Charles B. Macdonald, a golf champion and founder of the United States Golf Association, started the Links i ...

. He served also as a director of

Canada Life The Canada Life Assurance Company ( French: ''La Compagnie d'Assurance du Canada sur la Vie''), commonly known as Canada Life (''Canada-Vie''), is a Canadian insurance and financial services company with its headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The ...

Brascan {{Infobox company , logo = Brazilian Light and Power Company logo.png , former_name = Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited (1912–1966)Brazilian Light and Power Company Limited (1966–1969) , industry = Public utility Conglomer ...

, Allied Chemical Canada, TransCanada Pipelines,

Ford Motor Company of Canada Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited (Canadian French, French: ''Ford du Canada Limitée'') was founded on August 17, 1904, for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Ford cars in Canada. It was originally known as the Walkerville Wagon Works a ...

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Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

Conoco Conoco ( ), formerly known as Continental Oil, is an American Petroleum industry, petroleum brand that is operating under the current ownership of the Phillips 66 Company since 2012 and is headquartered in the Westchase, Houston, Westchase neigh ...

Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to: *Falconbridge Ltd., a Canadian mining company *Falconbridge, Middlesex County, Ontario *Falconbridge, Greater Sudbury, Ontario People with the surname *Lord Falconbridge, an alternative title for barons, viscounts, and e ...

, and

MacMillan Bloedel MacMillan Bloedel Limited was a Canadian forestry company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company was formed in 1951 as MacMillan and Bloedel through the merger of Bloedel, Stewart and Welch with the H. R. MacMillan Export Com ...

. McKinnon was a member of the

Presbyterian Church in Canada The Presbyterian Church in Canada () is a Presbyterian denomination, serving in Canada under this name since 1875. The United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939. According to the Religion in Canada, Canada 2021 Censu ...

. On 3 May 1941 at

Grace Church on-the-Hill Grace Church on-the-Hill is a parish of the Anglican Church of Canada in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, Diocese of Toronto. The parish church is located at 300 Lonsdale Road, in the Forest Hill, Toronto, Forest Hill area of Toronto, Ontario. ...

, McKinnon married Phyllis Adelaide Cowie (1918–1998). They had two children, Ian Neil (1946–2021) and

Sheila Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''Síle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name ''Caelia'', the feminine form of the Roman clan name ''Caelius' ...

. Neil died on 4 August 1975 of a heart attack while swimming at his cottage on Lake Rosseau. The funeral was held on 8 August at Grace Church on-the-Hill. He was interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery."Deaths," ''Globe and Mail'', (7 August 1975), 39.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, Neil J. 1911 births 1975 deaths Canadian bank presidents Canadian bankers Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce people Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce presidents People from Cobalt, Ontario