Ronald Caron (December 19, 1929 – January 9, 2012) 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 ...

executive in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

and

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

Early life

Caron was born in Hull, Quebec (now Gatineau,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

), on December 19, 1929. He was a graduate of the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

."The Montreal Canadiens mourn the passing of Ronald Caron", Montreal Canadiens press release, Tuesday, January 10, 2012.
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Hockey career

Montreal Canadiens

Caron began his career in professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

as a part-time scout with the Montreal Junior Canadiens in 1959. The team promoted him to head scout in 1968. He succeeded Al MacNeil as

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Montreal Voyageurs Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

for the 1970–71 campaign, but was replaced by Floyd Curry during the season. He was appointed the Voyageurs'

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

the following year. Within the next ten campaigns, he served the team as assistant general manager and director of recruitment and player personnel.

St. Louis Blues

Caron was the

of the

from 1983 until 1994. During his tenure, he was involved in bringing players like

Doug Gilmour Douglas Robert Gilmour (born June 25, 1963) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for seven different teams. Gilmour was a seventh round selection, 134th overall, of the St. ...

Brett Hull Brett Andrew Hull (born August 9, 1964) is a Canadian–American former ice hockey player and general manager, and currently an executive vice president of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Calgary Flames, ...

, and

Adam Oates Adam Robert Oates (born August 27, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, former co-head coach for the New Jersey Devils and former head coach for the Washington Capitals. He played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League ...

to St. Louis. Before he was hired by St. Louis, he worked for the

as their head scout. He won six Stanley Cup rings with Montreal during the 1970s as the assistant general manager. He was nicknamed "The Old Professor" for his remarkable memory of hockey events.

Death

Caron died on January 9, 2012, at 82 at his home in Montreal.Ron Caron dies; former Blues GM
, ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-De ...

'' (January 10, 2012)

Awards

* Stanley Cup Champions 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979

References

1929 births 2012 deaths Montreal Canadiens executives Montreal Canadiens scouts Ice hockey people from Gatineau St. Louis Blues executives Stanley Cup champions {{Canada-icehockey-bio-stub