Harrison McCain (3 November 1927 – 18 March 2004) was a Canadian businessman and co-founder, along with his three brothers, of international frozen foods giant

McCain Foods McCain may refer to: * McCain (surname), a surname (includes a list of persons and characters) Companies * McCain Foods Limited, a producer of frozen foods * McCain, Inc., privately held American manufacturing company headquartered in Vista, ...

Early life

McCain was born in

Florenceville-Bristol Florenceville-Bristol is a town in the northwest part of Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada. The town is located on the banks of the Saint John River. As of 2016, the population was 1,604. History Florenceville was originally known as ...

, New Brunswick, as the son of Andrew Davis McCain, a descendant of a settler from Castlefinn,

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

, Ireland who became a well-respected seed potato farmer. Since 1900, the family sold seed potatoes throughout

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and exported to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and Latin America.

Career

After graduating from Acadia University, Harrison (the 3rd son) and his brother Wallace (the 4th son) worked for oil and gas company

Irving Oil Irving Oil Ltd. is a Canadian gasoline, oil, and natural gas producing and exporting company. Considered part of the Irving Group of Companies, it was founded by entrepreneur Kenneth "K.C." Irving and is privately owned by his son, Arthur, and h ...

. In 1956, on their brother Robert suggestions, Harrison and Wallace with their brothers Robert and Andrew founded one of the first factories to process potatoes, turning them into frozen

french fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

. With the benefit of ensured quality and the ability to export long distances with a value added product, the business started growing. With Harrison's personal and business skills and the close relationship with his brother Wallace, the McCain Foods business eventually grew to over 55 factories worldwide and the number one french fry company in the world. In the 1990s a prolonged legal dispute between Harrison and Wallace over succession to the company leadership led to the departure of Wallace and his son

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

from McCain Foods. Harrison named his nephew, Allison McCain, son of his late brother Andrew, as his successor in 2002.

Ventures

McCain was a member of the board of directors of the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

and a close personal friend of the bank's chairman Cedric Ritchie who grew up in the neighboring community of Upper Kent.

Canadian honours

In 1992, he was named to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

as a companion, the highest degree.

Personal life

He is father to Gillian McCain co-author (with Legs McNeil) of ''Please Kill Me: The Oral History Of Punk'' (Grove Press, 1996) as well as two volumes of poetry, ''Tilt'' (Hard Press, 1997) and ''Religion'' (The Figures, 1999). He was married to Marion "Billie" McCain, daughter of the former premier of New Brunswick John McNair. He died of kidney failure in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, on 18 March 2004.

References

External links

Canadian Professional Sales Association Hall of Fame – Harrison McCain
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCain, Harrison 1927 births 2004 deaths Deaths from kidney failure Businesspeople from New Brunswick Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent Companions of the Order of Canada Recipients of the Legion of Honour Members of the Order of New Brunswick People from Carleton County, New Brunswick