George Alan Cohon, (born April 19, 1937) is an American-born Canadian businessman who is the founder and senior chairman of

McDonald's Canada McDonald's Restaurants of Canada, Limited (french: Les Restaurants McDonald's du Canada Limitée) is the Canadian master franchise of the fast food restaurant chain McDonald's, owned by the American parent McDonald's Corporation. One of Canada ...

and McDonald's Russia.

Early life and education

George Alan Cohon was born to a

Ukrainian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

father and an

American-Jewish American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora ...

mother in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. His father worked as a lawyer and later a baker. He grew up in Chicago sharing a bedroom alongside his older sister Sandy. He received a B.Sc. from

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. His ...

and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from the

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law s ...

. While at Northwestern, he met his future wife Susan.

Career

600th McDonalds Canada Skydome August 29 1989

Cohon practiced corporate law in Chicago from 1961 through 1967 at his father's law firm before moving to

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 ...

, Ontario, as the licensee of McDonald's Corporation for Eastern Canada. He opened his first McDonald's location in London Ontario on November 11, 1968. On the day of the opening, McDonald's founder

Ray Kroc Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman. He purchased the fast food company McDonald's in 1961 and was its CEO from 1967 to 1973. Kroc is credited with the global expansion of McDonald's, turnin ...

offered to buy Cohon's licence for $1 million. He later became chairman, president and chief executive officer of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada. By 1976, Cohon presided over 200 McDonald locations. In 1982, Cohon and 20 corporate sponsors helped save the

Toronto Santa Claus Parade The Toronto Santa Claus Parade, also branded as ''The Original Santa Claus Parade'', is a Santa Claus parade held annually on the third Sunday of November in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. First held in 1905, it is one of the largest parade productio ...

, which was sponsored by Eaton's department stores from 1905 to 1981. He grew his McDonald franchise by himself until 1971, when McDonald's bought him out with stock. Cohon eventually became a Canadian citizen in 1975. In 1988, Cohon was appointed to sit on the board of the

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...

and Director of the Board of

Astral Astral may refer to: Concepts of the non-physical * Astral body, a subtle body posited by many religious philosophers * Astral journey (or ''astral trip''), the same as having an ''out-of-body experience'' * Astral plane (AKA astral world), a ...

Inc and

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

Publishing Corporation. He was involved in opening McDonald's in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

with the first restaurant opening in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

on January 31, 1990. He was subsequently named Russia's "Capitalist Hero of Labor." The first restaurant was at the time McDonald's biggest, and was opened with minimal involvement from the U.S. parent company, for political reasons. It accepted only

Russian ruble ''hum''; cv, тенкĕ ''tenke''; kv, шайт ''shayt''; Lak: къуруш ''k'urush''; Mari: теҥге ''tenge''; os, сом ''som''; tt-Cyrl, сум ''sum''; udm, манет ''manet''; sah, солкуобай ''solkuobay'' , name_ab ...

s, not

hard currency In macroeconomics, hard currency, safe-haven currency, or strong currency is any globally traded currency that serves as a reliable and stable store of value. Factors contributing to a currency's ''hard'' status might include the stability and ...

, and in the early days, the line to enter the restaurant could be several hours long. Due to Soviet supply shortages, the company created its own

supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...

in the Soviet Union, including farms and packaging. At the 1991 G7 Summit in London,

Canadian Prime Minister The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...

(Cohon's personal friend) personally complained to

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

about the difficulties Cohon was experiencing doing business in the Soviet Union. Businessperson

Craig Cohon Entrepreneur turned climate activist, Craig Cohon (born June 5, 1963) is a London-based, Canadian businessman and the ambassador and founder of ''walk it back'', a global environmental campaign fostering international dialogue on carbon dioxide ...

, son of George and Susan, helped bring Coca-Cola to Russia. He is also the founder of

Ronald McDonald House Charities Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is an independent American nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children. RMHC has a global network of c ...

, which provides accommodation for families whose children are receiving medical treatment, in Canada and in Russia.

Awards and honours

In 1988, he was made a Member of 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 ...

. In 1998, he was awarded the

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (russian: Орден Дружбы, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds a ...

by the Russian government. He was awarded the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official Award, honour in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the A ...

in 2000. In 2012, he received a key to the city of Toronto. In 2019 he was promoted within the

to the highest grade of Companion by

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

Julie Payette Julie Payette (; born October 20, 1963) is a Canadian engineer, scientist and former astronaut who served from 2017 to 2021 as Governor General of Canada, the 29th since Canadian Confederation. Payette holds engineering degrees from McGill ...

. This will give him the

Post Nominal Letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

"CC" for Life. On 14 June 2011 He was awarded the

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

(LL.D) by

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

. As a recipient of the

He has also received The 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal in 1992, The Canadian Version of the

Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (french: link=no, Médaille du jubilé d'or de la Reine Elizabeth II) or the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

in 2002 and the Canadian Version of the

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

in 2012.

Personal life

His son,

Mark Cohon Mark Steven Cohon, (born March 16, 1966) is the chairman of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). He was also the 12th commissioner of the Canadian Football League. The son of McDonald's Canada founder George Cohon, he was a ...

, was the 12th commissioner of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. In 2000, George Cohon was diagnosed with prostate cancer but fully recovered. In 2004, he was rejected from Toronto's Rosedale Golf Club due to his Jewish heritage. After being taken to court, a Judge ruled this was unlawful.

References

External links

Multimedia

CBC Archives
CBC Television reports on the opening of Moscow McDonald's (1990). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohon, George 1937 births Living people American emigrants to Canada American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Astral Media people Businesspeople from Chicago Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian chairpersons of corporations Canadian people of American-Jewish descent Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Directors of Royal Bank of Canada Drake University alumni Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni McDonald's people Members of the Order of Ontario Companions of the Order of Canada