Ron Joyce

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Ron Joyce, CM (born 1930) is the Canadian multi-millionaire co-founder of the Tim Hortons donut chain. He was Tim Horton's partner and first franchisee.

After being raised in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Ronald Vaughan Joyce, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy and specialized in the Communications field. Joyce later moved to Hamilton, Ontario and became a police officer. He established a Dairy Queen franchise in Hamilton, while with his second wife Theresa, and got to know Horton by frequenting his donut shop while on foot patrol.

Upon entering a franchise partnership with Horton in 1967, Joyce reportedly wrote "You must be kidding!" in reference to the clause of the one-page franchise agreement requiring rent in advance. Following Horton's death in an automobile accident, Joyce purchased Horton's share of the partnership from Horton's widow, giving him complete control of Tim Horton's (the apostrophe would be dropped later).

Joyce hired a management team and began to successfully franchise the company throughout the late 1970s until the 1990s and was considered to be the driving force behind the growth of the chain. His tenacity and vision coupled with common sense, brought great success to the chain.

During the early 1990s, a franchise owner of both Tim Hortons coffee shops and Wendy's fast food restaurants in Prince Edward Island wanted to combine both franchises under one roof in a new development in small town of Montague. The franchisee asked Joyce and Wendy's founder Dave Thomas to be present for the opening, which was reportedly the first time the business executives had met.

The Montague "combo store" concept eventually led to an informal partnership between Tim Hortons and Wendy's, and several years later Wendy's would merge the companies, in exchange for Joyce accepting Wendy's stock — Joyce became the largest single shareholder of Wendy's, even larger than Thomas himself.

Now retired, Joyce devotes time to numerous charities including the Tim Horton Children's Foundation, which Mr. Joyce founded, that sends thousands of underprivileged kids to camp each year. Mr. Joyce's dedication and commitment to the Tim Horton Children's Foundation earned him the Gary Wright Humanitarian Award in 1991, presented periodically in recognition of the outstanding contributions to the betterment of community life throughout Canada. In recognition primarily for his work with the Foundation, he received an appointment to the Order of Canada, with the official presentation taking place on October 21, 1992 in Ottawa.

In May 1993, Mr. Joyce proudly accepted an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1994, he received the McGill University Management Achievement Award. He also holds honorary degrees from Mount Allison University and McMaster University. In November 1996, Mr. Joyce became only the second person to ever receive the Canadian Franchise Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.

In April 1999, he was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, alongside other well-known Canadian business moguls and in October of the same year, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year® for Ontario and Canada.

In June 2005, Mr. Joyce generously donated $10 million towards the construction of a new sports stadium at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. In November 2005, Mr. Joyce was honoured as the 2005 Humanitarian Award Recipient by the Canadian Red Cross, Nova Scotia Region for his work with the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation and for his continued support of education and health organizations across the world. Today, Mr. Joyce serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Tim Horton Children's Foundation and sits on the Board of Directors of Sobey's and Shaw Communications.

In an ironic twist, Joyce's son has married Horton's daughter, returning the Horton family to the company.