- George Cohon
George A. Cohon, O.C., O.Ont., B.Sc., J.D., Ph.D., (born
April 19 1937 ) is an American-born Canadian businessman who is the founder and senior chairman ofMcDonald's of Canada and McDonald's ofRussia .Born in
Chicago, Illinois , he received a B.Sc. fromDrake University and aJuris Doctor degree from theNorthwestern University School of Law . He practiced corporate law in Chicago from 1961 through 1967. In 1967 he moved toToronto, Ontario , as the licensee of McDonald’s Corporation for Eastern Canada. In 1971, he became chairman, president and chief executive officer of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada.He was involved in opening McDonald’s in the former
Soviet Union with the first restaurant opening inMoscow in 1990. The first restaurant was at the time McDonald's biggest, and was opened with minimal involvement from the U.S. parent company, for political reasons. It accepted onlyRussian ruble s, nothard currency , and in the early days, the line to enter the restaurant could be several hours long. Due to Soviet supply shortages, the company created its ownsupply chain in the Soviet Union, including farms and packaging. At the 1991 G7 Summit in London,Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Cohon's personal friend) personally complained toMikhail Gorbachev about the difficulties Cohon was experiencing doing business in the Soviet Union. [cite book|last=Mulroney|first=Brian|title=|publisher=Douglas Gibson Books |date=2007-09-10|isbn=0771065361]He is the founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides accommodation for families whose children are receiving medical treatment, in Canada and in Russia.
He is a member of the board of directors of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited,
Royal Bank of Canada andAstral Media Inc. He was a member of Board of Governors ofYork University between 1982 and 1995.He became a Canadian citizen in 1975. He was awarded the
Order of Ontario in 2000. In 1987 he was made a Member of theOrder of Canada and was promoted to Officer in 1992.He wrote an
auto-biography , "To Russia With Fries". His son,Mark Cohon , is theCanadian Football League 's 12th commissioner.References
External links
Multimedia
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/economy_business/business/clip/12844/ CBC Archives] CBC Television reports on the opening of Moscow McDonalds (1990).
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
