Ronald Vaughan "Ron" Joyce, CM (born 1930) is a Canadian billionaire businessman. He co-founded the Tim Hortons doughnut chain as Tim Horton's partner and first franchisee.
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Born and raised in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Joyce enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy and specialized in communications. Joyce later moved to Hamilton, Ontario and joined the Hamilton Police force in 1956. He served as a police officer until 1965. He established a Dairy Queen franchise in Hamilton and got to know the hockey player Tim Horton by frequenting his doughnut shop while on foot patrol.
Joyce entered a franchise partnership with Horton in 1967, and Joyce reportedly wrote "You must be kidding!" in reference to the clause of the one-page franchise agreement requiring rent in advance. The full Tim Horton franchise was given to Joyce.
Joyce hired a management team and began to franchise the company throughout the late 1970s until the 1990s. During the early 1990s, Danny Murphy, 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 Montague. Murphy asked Joyce and Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas (1932–2002), to be present for the opening, which was reportedly the first time the business executives had met.[1]
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 thus became the largest single shareholder of Wendy's, even larger than Thomas himself.
Joyce eventually sold his Wendy's stock and retired from management, but even in retirement continues to be active in his holding company, Jetport Inc, which has significant real estate, aviation, and commercial interests.[2] He also serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Tim Horton Children's Foundation and sits on the Board of Directors of Sobeys and Shaw Communications.
In 2000, Joyce opened Fox Harb'r Golf Resort & Spa, a five star, four diamond resort/gated community. An airport was built as part of the new resort, replacing the nearby Tatamagouche Airport located at the Tim Hortons Tatamagouche Children's Camp.
In 2006 Joyce published his memoirs of his time with Tim Hortons titled Always Fresh: The Untold Story Of Tim Hortons By The Man Who Created A Canadian Empire.[3]
Joyce devotes time to numerous charities including the Tim Horton Children's Foundation, which he founded, that sends underprivileged kids to camp each year. Joyce's efforts on behalf of the 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 also received an appointment to the Order of Canada, with the official presentation taking place on October 21, 1992 in Ottawa. Joyce is still the honorary chair of the Tim Horton's Children Foundation, but he says he no longer takes an active role in the charity. Instead, he started his own foundation, The Ron Joyce Foundation, to administrate his personal philanthropic work.
In May 1993, Joyce accepted an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1994, he received McGill University's Management Achievement Award. He also holds honorary degrees from Mount Allison and McMaster universities. In November 1996, Ron Joyce became only the second person to ever receive the Canadian Franchise Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
In April 1999, Ron Joyce was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame and in October of the same year, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Ontario and Canada.
In June 2005, Joyce donated $10 million dollars towards the construction of a new sports stadium, Ron Joyce Stadium, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, the single largest private donation to a Canadian athletics program to that date. In June 2007, he donated a further $10 million dollars towards McMaster's new Burlington campus, which will house an expansion of the Business program [4]
In November 2005, Joyce was 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.
In November 2008, he donated $5,000,000 to the Mount Allison University "Commerce Faculty" for use in the construction of the Commerce Lounge and development of the Commerce Department of Mt. Allison.[5]
He was married twice. In a twist of fate, Joyce's son Ron Jr. has married Tim Horton's daughter Jeri-Lyn, returning the Horton family name back to the company. The couple run two Tim Hortons locations in southern Ontario.
On 11 November 2007, the Bombardier Global 5000 business jet in which Joyce was travelling crashed short of the runway at his Fox Harb'r Resort's airport.[6] Joyce suffered two fractured vertebrae as a result.[7]
Joyce owns at least four yachts, both sail and motor, each with the phrase Fox Harb'r in their registered names.[8]