John Bayne Maclean
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
John Bayne Maclean was born in the small community of Creiff, near Guelph, Ontario, on September 26, 1863. The son of a Presbyterian minister Maclean was educated in Toronto and at Queen’s University in Kingston. Although his initial desire was to be a teacher his first job was as the commercial, financial, and marine editor of the Toronto Mail newspaper.
When Maclean gathered more news about commerce than the paper was prepared to publish in 1887, the young man decided to start his own publication which he called The Canadian Grocer. When Maclean began to expose the formidable grocery combine that existed in Toronto and Montreal he was threatened with lawsuits. He quickly hired the best lawyer he could afford, John King (Plot L, Section 46, Lot 21), the father of Canada’s future prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. In 1905, Maclean acquired Busy Man’s Magazine and six years later changed its name to Maclean’s. Over the years the Maclean publishing empire grew to a total of 28 trade papers plus magazines such as Mayfair (which began publication in 1927) and Chatelaine (1928). Canadian Homes and Gardens joined the list in 1925. Many years later the company’s corporate title was changed to Maclean Hunter Limited, the latter name honouring Horace Talmadge Hunter (Plot 12, Lot 44) who had started with the Maclean organisation as an advertising salesman. He rose through the ranks to become president in 1933 and chairman in 1952. John Bayne Maclean died at his residence, 7 Austin Terrace, on September 25, 1950 just one day short of his 88th birthday.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded