Charles Herbert Ivey
1889 - 1974 | Portrait by J. Ivey-Mazzoleni
Charles H. Ivey ("C.H.") was born in London, Ontario in 1889. He graduated in Electrical Engineering at McGill University before joining Emco Ltd. (then Empire Brass Manufacturing Ltd.) in 1911. C.H. served as an army Lieutenant in WWI, where he was awarded the Military Cross for his action at Vimy Ridge.
Before going overseas for the war, he married Ethel Jamieson in 1916. Together, they had three children. Peter, born in 1919, worked with his father at Emco and later became President and then Chairman of the company. Robert, born in 1922, also worked at Emco, expanding foundry operations in England. Bob was the co-founder of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (now Cystic Fibrosis Canada). Joanne was born in 1923 and became an opera singer. She married Ettore Mazzoleni, who was the principal of the Royal Conservatory of Music and later a principal conductor of the Canadian Opera Company.
After the war, C.H. returned to Emco and eventually became President in 1946, then Chairman until he retired in 1962. Under his leadership, Emco became a public company and expanded its operations, more than tripling its whole outlets across Canada, as well as opening offices in England and West Germany.
In 1957, he established The Charles H. Ivey Foundation, with his three offspring as its original directors. The Foundation's first disbursement and longest continuous support has been to Cystic Fibrosis research. Other significant donations include The Royal Conservatory of Music, The Royal Canadian Regiment and National Service Dogs.
Today, the Foundation consists of multiple generations of family-only members who are active participants in all granting decisions.