John Bayne Maclean

Maclean, John Bayne

John Bayne Maclean, publisher (b at Crieff, Canada W 26 Sept 1862; d at Toronto 25 Sept 1950). Maclean (who also spelled his name McLean and MacLean) was a teacher, reporter and the financial editor of the Toronto newspaper The Mail before founding a highly successful trade magazine, Canadian Grocer (1887). It was followed by an array of similar magazines which made him Canada's leading producer of trade publications. Under his and his successor's direction, the company became the diversified media conglomerate Maclean Hunter. Horace Talmadge Hunter was made a printer (1919), named president (1933), and his name was added to the corporate title (1945).

Maclean's solid base of trade magazines allowed him to found wider interest publications such as the Financial Post (1907), Farmer's Magazine (1910), Mayfair (1927) and Chatelaine (1928). As well, he purchased Canadian Homes and Gardens (1925) and Busy Man's Magazine (1905) which became his namesake Maclean's in 1911. By the 1930s, his company had become Canada's leading magazine publisher and had established branches in the US (1927) and Great Britain (1930).

Maclean's publishing success made him wealthy and he had a long militia career ultimately achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Though a staunch Conservative in politics, Maclean steadfastly maintained his publications' non-partisan status. Still, he frequently contributed editorials which criticized both parties and championed efficient government and increased industrial productivity.