J. Ernest Savard was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 stock broker

Stock broker

A stock broker or stockbroker is a regulated professional broker who buys and sells shares and other securities through market makers or Agency Only Firms on behalf of investors...

 and a partner in the brokerage firm of Savard & Hart in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

A sports fan, in 1928 Savard partnered with fellow Montreal businessman and politician Athanase David

Athanase David

Louis Athanase David was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and businessman. He is son of Laurent-Olivier David, also a Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician....

 and American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 baseball executive George Stallings

George Stallings

George Tweedy Stallings was an American manager and player in Major League Baseball. His most famous achievement – leading the Boston Braves from last place in mid-July to the National League championship and a World Series sweep of the powerful Philadelphia Athletics – resulted in a nickname he...

 to revive the Montreal Royals

Montreal Royals

The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, that existed from 1897–1917 and from 1928–60 as a member of the International League and its progenitor, the original Eastern League...

 baseball franchise as part of the International League

International League

The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...

 and to build Delorimier Stadium

Delorimier Stadium

Delorimier Stadium was a 20,000-seat sports stadium at 2101 Ontario Street East, at the corner of De Lorimier Avenue in the present-day Montreal borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve...

.

In 1935, Savard succeeded Athanase David as President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 of the Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

 ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 club, serving until 1938 when he was succeeded by Donat Raymond

Donat Raymond

Donat Raymond was a Canadian Senator and builder in the National Hockey League.Born in St. Stanislas de Kostka, Quebec, Donat was a member of the Canadian Senate as a Liberal Party from 1926 to 1963. Donat was also head of the Canadian Arena Company that helped designed arenas throughout Canada...

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A member of the Montreal Stock Exchange, Time magazine reported that his business suffered considerable financial losses in 1959 as a result of positions it had taken in a deal that turned out to be an orchestrated fraud by American financier Alexander L. Guterma.