John Draper Perrin

John Draper Perrin was a Canadian entrepreneur and mining executive who was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, in 1890. He was the son of William Perrin, a former British soldier and a sergeant in the North-West Mounted Police, and Sarah Lytle, both Irish immigrants. He attended school in Regina and Winnipeg, and worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway land office from 1906 to 1908. He embarked on a mining career in 1914 and founded the San Antonio Gold Mine in Manitoba in 1931. He financed and developed the mining town of Bissett and made the San Antonio mine the first dividend-paying metal mine between the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains. He also co-purchased the Canadian Arena Company, which owned the Montreal Forum and the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, and co-sponsored Hockey Night in Canada. He was a pioneer of commercial aviation and organized Wings Limited, an early air charter service. He was also the financier and president of the Winnipeg Warriors Hockey Club in the 1950s. He was a civic leader and a philanthropist who supported various causes and institutions, such as the Greater Winnipeg Victory Loan, the Canadian Red Cross, the Children's Hospital of Winnipeg, and the Lakeside Fresh Air Camp. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire and the Order of Canada for his contributions to the country. He died in 1967 at the age of 77 and was buried in St. Johns Cathedral Cemetery in Winnipeg. He was commemorated by John Perrin Marsh at Beaudry Provincial Park and inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.