John Lyons Agnew

John Lyons Agnew

John Lyons Agnew, mine executive (b at Pittsburgh, Pa 28 July 1884; d at Copper Cliff, Ont 9 July 1931). Agnew attended Pittsburgh schools and worked as a labourer in the steel mills before joining International Nickel's Canadian operations at Copper Cliff in 1904. As general superintendent in WWI, he was closely connected with rapid increases in the company's nickel production for allied armament manufacturers. During the 1920s, first as president of the International Nickel Co of Canada (INCO), a subsidiary of the American parent firm, and later as vice president when the Canadian company became the senior enterprise, Agnew was instrumental in promoting nickel for peacetime products, directing the construction of new smelting and refining plants and developing the Frood Mine, later one of the world's largest nickel producers. He was president of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a director of several corporations.