George Montegu Black (1875-1959)

Real estate agent.

Born Halifax, Nova Scotia on 14 December 1875, son of George A. Black, he arrived in Winnipeg in 1882 where he was educated at public and private schools. In 1890, he entered the office of the Western Canada Loan Company. A decade later, he was admitted to partnership in the firm of Nares & Robinson. In 1911, Black was a partner in the real estate and insurance firm of Robinson & Black, later known as Black & Armstrong, of which he was President at the time of his death. He was also President of Western Dominion Investment Company, Vice-President of the Manitoba Cold Storage Company, Canadian director of Phoenix Assurance Company of London, and a Director of the Canadian Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Company and Combustion Engineering Corporation.

In 1924 he acquired the brewery business founded in 1887 by E. L. Drewry and formed a new company known as Drewrys Limited. For 28 years he was President of Western Breweries Limited and its subsidiary companies, retiring in 1950. He was one of the founders of the Winnipeg Real Estate Board in 1903. He was made a life member of the board in 1953.

In 1901, he was married to Gertrude Maxwell Moffat. They had two children: Montegu Margaret Black (b 1905) and George Montegu Black (1910-1976; father of entrepreneur Conrad Black). He was a member of the Manitoba Club, Carleton Club, Pine Ridge Golf Club, Motor Country Club, Manitoba Jockey Club, St. Charles Country Club, Mount Royal Club (Montreal), and Assiniboia Club (Regina). He was a life member of the Winnipeg General Hospital Board and a Director of the Manitoba Division of the Navy League of Canada.

He died at his Winnipeg home, 59 Wilmot Place, on 5 July 1959 and was buried in St. John’s Cemetery.

Sources:

1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

“George Montegu Black, realtor, dead at 83”, Winnipeg Fress Press, 6 July 1959, page 5.

“Free Press Necrology Files”, Winnipeg Elite Study, G. Friesen Fonds, Mss 154, Box 15, File 16, University of Manitoba Archives]

Profile revised: 7 February 2010

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