The Globe and Mail - December 9, 1997

George Ryerson Gardiner
1917-1997

(excepted from the Globe and Mail, December 9, 1997)

George Gardiner, a past president of the Toronto Stock Exchange whose ceramic art collection formed the foundation for the Gardiner museum in Toronto, died Sunday after a lengthy illness. He was 80.

In addition to his involvement in the arts, sports and various charities, Mr. Gardiner enjoyed a successful business career that included every-thing from helping bring Kentucky Fried Chicken to Canada to opening one of the first discount stock brokerages in the country.

"George Gardiner really was a man who commanded respect, [and] had a very, very enviable reputation not only in the business world, but outside the business world as well where be made major contributions to society," said Fred Ketchen, senior vice president, director of equity trading at ScotiaMcleod Inc. of Toronto.

"He was a hard-working guy with a great deal of integrity."

Mr. Gardiner, who was born in Toronto, earned a commerce degree at the University of Toronto and a master's degree in business administration at Harvard University.

After a stint on Wall Street and then a job running a munitions factory during the Second World War, Mr. Gardiner returned to Toronto where he started Gardiner Watson Ltd., a stock brokerage that directly competed with a firm run by his father.

"They were just two very competitive individuals," said Edward Kukiel president of Gardiner Group Capital Ltd., Mr. Gardiner's private holding company." …I don't think there was any bad blood at all."

Mr. Gardiner sold his interest in Gardiner Watson in 1983 only to start up a discount brokerage that Toronto-Dominion Bank bought in 1987.

Other businesses that he founded included Scott's Hospitality Inc., Gardiner Oil and Gas Ltd. and Gardiner Farms Ltd

In 1984, Mr. Gardiner built and endowed the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, the first specialized ceramics museum in North America.  Mr. Gardiner and his wife, Helen, donated their personal collection to the museum, which at the time was the largest cultural gift ever made in Canada, the museum says.

Mr. Gardiner leaves his wife, and three children and eight grandchildren.