James Aird Nesbitt (March, c. 1907 – November 14, 1985) was a Canadian department store owner.

Early life and education

Born in Westmount, Quebec, he was the first of the two sons of the prominent

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Career

Known as Aird, when his father purchased Ogilvy's Department Store on Saint Catherine Street in downtown Montreal in 1927, the twenty-year-old Aird Nesbitt took over management of the store. He proved to be a very capable merchandiser whose marketing skills made Ogilvy's one of Montreal's most popular stores. James Aird Nesbitt remained active in the running of the Ogilvy department store until his death in 1985. The executors of his estate sold the Ogilvy store that year. In 1936, he co-founded the Westmount High Old Boys' Association. Following the outbreak of World War II, in 1939 he joined the Canadian Army and served overseas. Nesbitt fought in the Italian Campaign and participated in the liberation of The Netherlands. The recipient of a number of service decorations, by the time he was decommissioned after the end of the war, Aird Nesbitt had earned the rank of Brigadier.

Personal life

In 1935 Aird Nesbitt married Honor Graham Mathewson of Montreal. An art collector, he owned Thomas Gainsborough's ''Portrait of Mrs James Unwin'' completed in 1771. In 1929, he published a biography of Canadian artist,

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. On his passing in 1985 he was interred with other family members in the

Mount Royal Cemetery Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, a Reform Judaism burial ground, is within the Mount Royal grounds. Th ...

in Montreal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesbitt, J. Aird 1900s births 1985 deaths Canadian military personnel of World War II Canadian businesspeople in retailing Canadian art collectors Canadian people of Scottish descent Businesspeople from Quebec People from Westmount, Quebec Anglophone Quebec people Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery