John Bragg (businessman)

John L. Bragg, OC ONS (born May 3, 1940) is a Canadian businessman and former Chancellor of Mount Allison University.

John L. Bragg

OC ONS
Born (1940-05-03) May 3, 1940
Springhill, Nova Scotia
NationalityCanadian

Early life and education

The Bragg family has called Nova Scotia home for 180 years.[1] John was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Education degree from Mount Allison University.

Career

He is the Chairman, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Frozen Foods Limited, a food manufacturer which he founded in 1968 and operates the largest fruit farm in the world, with over 12,000 acres (49 km2) of wild blueberries.[2] He also founded a cable television company in the 1970s which became known as Bragg Communications and was subsequently expanded to become EastLink.

Bragg built his first blueberry-processing factory in 1968, and the business is still experiencing double-digit growth today. In 2015, Bragg opened a new facility in Saint-Isidore, New Brunswick, that is considered to "the most modern blueberry processing facility in the world." It can process up to 1.5 million pounds of blueberries per day.[1]

Bragg had a net worth of $1.11 billion CDN in 2015.[3]

He was ranked No. 86 in Canadian Business's list of Canada's richest people in 2017.[4][1]

Community involvement

He is or was a director of TD Bank Financial Group, Canada Bread Limited, Empire Company Limited and Sobeys Inc.[5]

Recognition

In 1996, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.[6] In 1994, he was awarded the National Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Governor General of Canada Ray Hnatyshyn.[7] He was named to the Order of Nova Scotia in 2018.[8]

Bragg and his business empire were the subject of a lengthy interview/profile in The Globe and Mail, which observed that "Beneath the veneer of the rural blueberry baron, there is one tough, risk-taking tycoon with an ardour for growth, game-changing technology, and debt financing."[9]

Personal life

He and wife Judy have four children: Lee, Matthew, Carolyn and Patricia, all of whom have worked or now work in the business.

References
  1. "Canada's Richest People: John Bragg". Canadian Business. December 24, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  2. "About Oxford Frozen Foods". Archived from the original on 2006-03-22. Retrieved May 29, 2006.
  3. "Canada's Richest People 2015: The 100 Richest Canadians". www.canadianbusiness.com. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  4. "Canada's Richest People: The Complete Top 100 Ranking (2017)". www.canadianbusiness.com. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  5. "TD Bank Financial Group - Corporate Directors". Retrieved May 29, 2006.
  6. Order of Canada citation
  7. "House of Commons Hansard". Archived from the original on April 21, 2005. Retrieved May 29, 2006.
  8. Mathieson, Dave (November 7, 2018). "Still going strong at age 78, Oxford Frozen Foods' John Bragg receives Order of Nova Scotia | SaltWire". Amherst News. Archived from the original on 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2021-01-11 – via www.saltwire.com.
  9. "Blueberry and fibre optic tycoon John Bragg: The Oracle of Oxford, N.S." Toronto Globe and Mail. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
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