Mortimer Barnett Davis

Manufacturing interests of Montreal find a prominent representative in Mortimer Barnett Davis, one of the leaders in the tobacco trade of the Dominion, being active in the management of an enterprise of mammoth proportions. It is true that he entered upon a business already established, but in enlarging and developing this many a man of less resolute spirit and of more limited business sagacity would have failed. Each step he has taken in the business world has been one of progress, bringing him a broader outlook and wider opportunities.

Mr. Davis was born February 6, 1866, in Montreal, a son of Samuel and Minnie (Falk) Davis, the former the founder of the firm of Samuel Davis & Sons, manufacturers and importers of cigars at Montreal. Mortimer B. Davis completed his education in the high school of his native city and early became associated with his father in business, receiving thorough training that acquainted him with every phase of the trade. He went upon the road as a traveling salesman and eventually was advanced to the position of manager after the firm had acquired the D. Ritchie Tobacco factory. He controlled the business most systematically and, finally, when it had been absorbed by the formation of the American Tobacco Company of Canada in 1895, he became president of the company and so continues. Later he gave to the country a great national industry in the Empire Tobacco Company, which is a branch of the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada. He was largely instrumental in establishing a permanent market for Canada leaf tobacco and promoting trade interests in his line between this and other lands. Something of the volume of business under his control is indicated in the fact that there are now three thousand workmen in his factories. No undertaking in connection with the tobacco trade seems too difficult or its scope too broad for him to successfully manage and control. Every effort which he puts forth seems to count for the utmost and obstacles and difficulties in his path seem but an impetus for renewed concentration and direction. His opinions carry weight in the management of other important financial, commercial and agricultural interests.

On the 12th of June, 1898, Mr. Davis was married to Miss Henrietta Myers, and they have one son. Mr. Davis belongs to the Royal Montreal Golf Club, and also holds membership in the Mount Royal, St. James, Montreal Hunt and Montreal Jockey Clubs, the Auto Club of Canada and the Forest and Stream Club, associations which indicate something of the nature of his interests and activities and which have brought about a well rounded character, justifying the expression of the Gazette, which termed him “a man of strength, vigor, capacity and wisdom.”