Ray Lawson
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Ray Lawson, O.B.E., LL.D., D.C.L. (August 30, 1886-1980), served as the 17th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1946 to 1952.
Born Frank Ray Lawson in 1886 in London, Ontario, the son of Francis Edgar ("Frank") Lawson, a former newspaper reporter, and Lorena Hodgins, a former teacher. As a young man, he worked as a traveling salesman for Lawson & Jones, the printing firm co-founded by his father. In 1909 he married Helen Newton and they later had five children.
In 1911, following the sudden death his father, Ray Lawson returned to London and assumed his father's position with Lawson & Jones Limited. In 1913, he borrowed heavily to purchase the shares held by the Jones family and, at the age of 26, became President, Director and major shareholder of Lawson & Jones Limited. In addition to printing druggists labels and calendars, in 1916 the Company entered into a profitable arrangement to manufacture cigarette packages for Imperial Tobacco. By 1920, Ray Lawson had retired the debt he incurred to purchase his interest in Lawson & Jones. Throughout the depression, the Company grew by acquiring and consolidating other printing concerns.
When war broke out in 1939, Ray Lawson went to work for C.D. Howe, Canadian Federal Minister of Munitions and Supply, as a "dollar-a-year-man", and was appointed President of Federal Avation, a crown corporation established in Montreal to manufacture the Avro-Anson trainer for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. He was named an Officer of the Order of the British empire in 1942.
Over the course of his career, Ray Lawson served as a senior executive or director of twenty Canadian companies, including: President, Lawson & Jones Ltd., President, Canadian Containers; President, Midland Securities, Ltd.; Director, Traders Finance Corporation Limited; Director, London & Western Trust Co. Ltd.; Director, Northern Life Assurance Co. of Canada; Director, Toronto General Insurance; Director, Great Lakes Paper. Eight unversities conferred honorary degrees on him.
Ray Lawson served as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1946 to 1952. He later served as Canadian Consul-General in New York from 1953 to 1955. From 1948 to 1956, he was the Chancellor of University of King's College, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In 1947, Ray Lawson purchased the Oakville lakeshore estate, “Ballymena” that was previously owned by William Fletcher Eaton, in order to have a suitable residence close to Toronto and for use in his capacity as Lieutenant Governor. It became his permanent home.
Ray Lawson was an active philanthropist most of his life, having sponsored the building of a library at the University of Western Ontario as early as 1933, and over the years creating various scholarships, trusts and contributing to charitable societies. In 1956,he established the Lawson Foundation, with assets of two million dollars. The Foundation has since donated over fifty million dollars to charities across Canada and in 2005 had an endowment of over $90 million.
Ray Lawson died in 1980. He was buried at Woodland Cemetery, London, Ontario.
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by Albert Edward Matthews |
Lieutenant Governor of Ontario 1946–1952 |
Succeeded by Louis Orville Breithaupt |
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Lieutenant-Governors of Ontario |  |
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| Post-Confederation (1867-present)
Stisted | Howland | Crawford | D.A. Macdonald | J.B. Robinson | Campbell | Kirkpatrick | Gzowski | Mowat | Clark | Gibson | Hendrie | Clarke | Cockshutt | Ross | Mulock | H.A. Bruce | Matthews | Lawson | Breithaupt | MacKay | Rowe | W.R. Macdonald | McGibbon | Aird | Alexander | Jackman | Weston | Bartleman Province of Canada (1841-1866) Clitherow | Jackson | Bagot | Metcalfe | Cathcart | J. Bruce | E.W. Head | Monck Upper Canada (1791-1841) Simcoe | Russell | Hunter | Grant | Gore | Brock | Sheaffe | de Rottenburg | Drummond | Murray | F.P. Robinson | Smith | Maitland | Colborne | F.B. Head | Arthur | Sydenham |
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