John Fitzwilliam Stairs

John Fitzwilliam Stairs was a Canadian industrialist and politician who was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1848. He was the son of William James Stairs, a merchant and shipper, and Susan Duffus Morrow. He studied at Dalhousie College and then entered the management of the family's business empire. He was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1879, resigning in 1882 to successfully run for election to the House of Commons of Canada in Ottawa where he served as a Conservative Party member until 1896. Stairs was president of many companies, including Nova Scotia Steel, Eastern Trust, Trinidad Electric, and Royal Securities Corporation. He served as director of the Dartmouth and Halifax Steamboat Company, Nova Scotia Sugar Refining, the Union Bank of Halifax, and Consumer Cordage. He also employed Max Aitken, later Lord Beaverbrook, at the beginning of his business career, hiring him in 1902 when he set up Royal Securities, the first investment firm in Eastern Canada. Stairs was the driving force behind the acquisitions, expansions, mergers, and recapitalizations that culminated in 1901 in the organization of the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company, the largest steel and coal producer in Canada. He also played a prominent role in the trade with the Indians and the American Revolutionists, and was appointed purveyor to the American hospitals in Canada by General Montgomery. He was expelled by General Burgoyne in 1776 and his property was confiscated, but he later recovered some of his losses and was allowed to return to Montreal. He died of unknown causes in 1904 at the age of 56 and was buried in Fairview Cemetery in Halifax. He was remembered as a visionary entrepreneur, a successful financier, and a proud Canadian.