Aemilius Jarvis
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Aemilius Jarvis (1860-1940) was a Canadian businessman and sailor.
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[edit] Career and Military Service
A member of a prominent Toronto family, Jarvis apprenticed as a banker, and eventually became president of the Trader's Bank of Canada. Jarvis founded the Steel Company of Canada. He built the King Edward Hotel and created the British Columbia Salmon Canning Industry. Jarvis also formed AEmilius Jarvis & Co., earning the friendship and respect of such men as Lord Minto (Governor General of Canada), J.P. Morgan, Sir Thomas Lipton, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Henry Pellatt, and Ned Hanlan. He acted as a spy for King George V while visiting Czar Nicholas of Russia in 1915. Jarvis was instrumental in forming the Canadian Navy during World War I, and was awarded an S.S.D. (Special Service Decoration) for his wartime efforts. He also operated a famously successful stud farm, breeding hunter-jumper horses.
[edit] Love of Sailing
Jarvis sailed alone around Lake Ontario in a tiny dinghy when he was just ten years old. Later in life, he spent two years sailing the world in a square-rigger sailing vessel. He designed and built numerous innovative and successful racing sailboats, and founded the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, of which he was elected commodore four times. Additionally, he won over 100 international freshwater sailing events while at Royal Canadian Yacht Club.
[edit] Scandal
Jarvis was convicted on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government of the Province of Ontario, after having saved that government millions of dollars in the retirement of war bonds. Though he was jailed, for the remainder of his life he stoutly defended his innocence. The Premier of Ontario, Ernest C. Drury, labelled him "Canada's Dreyfus."
