Eugene O'Keefe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eugene O'Keefe (10 December 1827 – 1 October 1913), baptized Owen Keeffe, was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He founded the O’Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited in 1891.
Born in Bandon, Republic of Ireland, he moved with his family to Canada when he was five eventually settling in Toronto. He married Helen Charlotte Bailey in 1862. They had a son and two daughters.
From 1856 to 1861, he worked at the Toronto Savings Bank. He later was president of the Home Bank of Canada. In 1861, he was one of the purchasers of Toronto's Victoria Brewery, at the corner of Victoria and Gould Streets, with had an annual production of 1,000 barrels. In 1891, he incorporated it as O’Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited. The brewery would expand to a capacity of 500,000 barrels. He sold the business after his son died in 1911. He later made substantial contributions to the Catholic Churches in Toronto.
In 1909, Pope Pius X made him the first Canadian layman to be made a private Papal chamberlain.
He died at his home on Bond Street in 1913.
