Harold Greville Smith

Harold Greville Smith

Harold Greville Smith, industrialist (b at Sheffield, Eng 25 Jan 1902; d at Montréal 19 Feb 1974). After graduating from Oxford, Smith was hired by a chemical firm later absorbed by Imperial Chemical Industries. ICI sent Smith to Canada in 1932 to direct chemical development in Canadian Industries Limited (CIL). In 1939 he became a VP of CIL and VP and general manager of Defence Industries Ltd, a CIL subsidiary (and not, as is commonly believed, a crown corporation) engaged in defence work for the government. In 1951 he became president of CIL and was confronted by an antitrust judgement against its 2 parent companies, ICI and DuPont. With the agreement of C.D. HOWE, Smith supervised division of the company into CIL (ICI) and DuPont of Canada. He was president of CIL until 1958; he was chairman and chief executive officer of Brinco 1960-63.