Norman Edgar "Peter" Hardy (January 4, 1917 – November 22, 1997) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

brewer and one of the founding baseball executives of the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). Hardy was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1917, and served in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

during World War II. He joined

Labatt Brewing Company Labatt Brewing Company Limited (french: La Brasserie Labatt Limitée) is a Belgian-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Int ...

in 1949, became a vice president in 1962, and served as president from 1964 to 1968. He then moved to the parent company, John Labatt Ltd., of which he became chairman in 1980. In 1976, Hardy was named to the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the

; the team joined the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

the following year. He became chairman and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

in 1982, and held those positions until 1989. In April 1985, sportswriter

Steve Wulf Steven Ira "Steve" Wulf (born December 4, 1950) is an American magazine journalist, editor, and book writer. A former executive editor at ''ESPN The Magazine'', Wulf continues to write for ''ESPN The Magazine'' as well as ESPN.com. Before jo ...

of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' rated Hardy as baseball's best executive in a story naming MLB's "dream team". Hardy died in 1997 at age 80; he was survived by his wife, Dorothy, and two daughters. He was inducted to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Peter N.E. 1917 births 1997 deaths Royal Canadian Navy personnel Military personnel from Toronto Businesspeople from Toronto Royal Canadian Navy personnel of World War II Canadian brewers Labatt Brewing Company Toronto Blue Jays executives Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees