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Donald (Don) James Smith (March 23, 1924 - July 16, 2013) was a Canadian business leader, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the former President and CEO of EllisDon Corporation and is widely recognized for co-founding the construction giant and the landmark projects it was responsible for completing. EllisDon now has over 2500 employees, bringing in over $3.5 billion in revenues annually.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.ellisdon.com/don-smith )〕 Don was driven in all facets of his life and was relentless and honest in everything that he did. His determination and motivation extended well beyond his business, but to positively impacting the lives of others as well. == Early life == Donald "Bus" Smith was born on March 23, 1924 in Provost, Alberta, to Donald Bennett Smith and Florence Marie Smith.〔 Don had an older brother, David Ellis Smith, and a younger sister, Muriel.〔 In 1929, when the stock market crashed, Donald Bennett Smith, a bank manager, lost everything. In 1930, during the Great Depression, when Don was six years old, his father suddenly died leaving Florence and the children with nothing at all.〔 With no prospects in Provost and no way of supporting her family, Florence and her children were forced to move to Toronto, Ontario.〔 Upon moving to North Toronto, Florence found a home and a job as a Sales Clerk at Eaton's department store. Soon after, Smith's cousin George Ellis moved in with the family when his own father died.〔 With his mother always working and no father, Smith decided he needed to start making his own way. At the age of 10, Don was given a toy movie projector from his mother.〔 He proved himself a natural entrepreneur when he began using it to host Charlie Chaplin movie screenings in his basement for the neighbourhood kids, charging five-cents a head per showing.〔 Don later became a paper boy for the Toronto Star with his own route where he was successful. A combination of the Toronto Star paper route and other part-time jobs taught Smith the value of hard work.〔 As a young adult, Smith aspired to be an aeronautical engineer and so he enrolled into the Engineering program at the University of Toronto〔 Due to a condition from birth, Don suffered from a tremor in his hands which caused him to have bad writing. Don's professors returned ungraded tests because they couldn't read his writing and as a result, he was forced to drop out of school after his first year of university.〔 Shortly after, he joined Foundation Company, one of the biggest construction firms in Canada at the time where he was made Superintendent by the age of 25.〔 In January, 1949, Don married his wife, Elizabeth Joan McDonald. The newlywed couple moved to London, Ontario where they had their first child, Catherine, the same year in November.〔 Catherine was their first of seven children followed by Robert, Lynne, Geoff, Michael, Donald, and David.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?pid=165888228 )〕 Joan was a University of Toronto graduate with a degree in Philosophy. She began her career with charitable service and eventually moved on to municipal and provincial politics.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Donald J. Smith」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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