Edward Rogers Wood
Encyclopedia
George Albertus Cox
George Albertus Cox was a very prominent Canadian businessman and a member of the Canadian Senate.He was born in Colborne, Upper Canada in 1840. He began work as a telegraph operator for the Montreal Telegraph Company and became their agent in Peterborough, Ontario. In 1861, he became an agent for...
. Wood was born in Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
to an Irish father (John W Wood) and a Scottish mother (Jane Porter). He married Agnes Euphemia Smart in Toronto on July 18, 1891. They had a son Wyman and a daughter Mildred.
Business activities
In his early teens, Edward Wood joined the G.N.W. Telegraph Company owned by Peterborough's Mayor George Albertus CoxGeorge Albertus Cox
George Albertus Cox was a very prominent Canadian businessman and a member of the Canadian Senate.He was born in Colborne, Upper Canada in 1840. He began work as a telegraph operator for the Montreal Telegraph Company and became their agent in Peterborough, Ontario. In 1861, he became an agent for...
and later Senator George Albertus Cox. After completing school Edward joined Cox's financial firm, Central Canada Loan & Savings Company. Both men incorporated in 1898 the National Trust Company in Toronto, Ontario. National Trust became part of Bank of Nova Scotia as Scotia Trust in 1997. In 1901 Cox and Wood formed Dominion Securities (now part of the Royal Bank of Canada) with the purpose of underwriting and retailing of provincial, municipal, and utility securities. In 1902 Edward Wood shifted Dominion Securities into industrial finance by financing of Dominion Iron & Steel and Dominion Coal. In 1910 he formed Dominion Steel Corporation, where his younger brother Frank Porter Wood
Frank Porter Wood
Frank Porter Wood, son of Canadian immigrants - an Irish father and a Scottish mother , was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada on 29 June 1882 and died on 20 March 1955 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He married Emma Matilda Junkin in 1906 and had three daughters: Mary Dorothy Porter Wood,...
was a President. He was at that time a leading financier and also became active in philanthropy as well as in volunteer endeavors for the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, Toronto General Hospital, Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Gallery of Ontario
Under the direction of its CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO embarked on a $254 million redevelopment plan by architect Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. The new addition would require demolition of the 1992 Post-Modernist wing by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg...
and the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
.
Residences
Edward Wood built and lived in Wymilwood (Queen's Park, and named after his children Mildred and Wyman) with his family from 1902 to 1924. He donated Wymilwood; an Elizabethan-style mansion now called Falconer Hall to the University of TorontoUniversity of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and is now part of the UofT law school. In 1924 he moved to Glendon Hall on Bayview Avenue, property adjoining his 20 year younger brother Frank P Wood. His widow, Euphemia, presented Glendon Hall to the University of Toronto in 1950.
He died in Toronto in 1941, and is buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Mount Pleasant Cemetery is a cemetery located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.In the early 19th century, the only authorized cemeteries within the city of Toronto were limited to the members of either the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England...
, adjacent to the grave of George Albertus Cox.