Samuel McLaughlin

Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin was an influential Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Company in 1907, one of the first major automobile manufacturers in Canada, which evolved into General Motors of Canada.

McLaughlin was born near Bowmanville in the hamlet of Enniskillen, Ontario, the son of Robert McLaughlin and Mary Smith. As a young man, he worked for a short time in a local hardware store, then in 1887 became an apprentice in the upholstery shop of his father's company, McLaughlin Carriage Works, which had opened in 1867 and at one time was the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire.

In 1890, McLaughlin took a job at H. H. Babcock, an upholstery company in Watertown, New York. In 1892, McLaughlin and his brother George become junior partners in their father's company. With engines from William C. Durant of Buick, he produced the McLaughlin-Buick Model F, establishing The McLaughlin Motor Car Company, incorporated on November 20, 1907. In 1908, its first full year of operation, it produced 154 cars.

In 1910, he became a director of General Motors. He sold his Chevrolet company stock in 1918, becoming president of General Motors of Canada, which continued to sell cars under the McLaughlin-Buick brand until 1942. He retired in 1945, but remained chairman of the board until his death. He remained on the board of General Motors until the early 1960s, and was coincidentally replaced by Royal Bank of Canada president Earle McLaughlin, his first cousin once removed. His older brother, chemist John J. McLaughlin (1865-1914), founded the Canada Dry company. After his brother's death in 1914, McLaughlin became president of this company briefly until it was sold around 1923.

McLaughlin was appointed honorary lieutenant-colonel of the 34th Ontario Regiment in 1921 and held this position until 1931, at which time he was appointed honorary colonel of same unit, later designated as The Ontario Regiment (RCAC), a reserve armored regiment based in Oshawa. Affectionately known as "Colonel Sam", McLaughlin served as honorary colonel until 1967, thereby becoming the longest continuously-serving colonel in the history of the Canadian Forces.

McLaughlin died on January 6, 1972 at the age of 100 years old in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.