While Robert Kurczyn Lovell entered upon a business already established, he has displayed the enterprise and determination which are among his salient characteristics in the methods which he has followed in conducting his business affairs. Montreal numbers him among her native sons, but he comes of Irish and German ancestry. He is the eldest son of the late John Lovell, who was a prominent publisher of Montreal from 1835 until his death in 1893. His mother is Mrs. Sarah Lovell, a daughter of N. P. M. Kurczyn, who was a German merchant of Montreal.
In the acquirement of his education Robert K. Lovell passed through consecutive grades to the high school. In 1867 he became connected with his father in business, becoming a partner in 1880 and so continuing until the latter’s death in July, 1893. The business was conducted under the same style until 1903 when it was incorporated. Since 1903 he has been president of the firm of John Lovell & Son, Ltd., publishers of Lovell’s Gazetteer of the Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland, Lovell’s Montreal Directory, Lovell’s Montreal Business Directory and numerous other publications. In all of his business affairs he never deviates from the highest standards. He is an Anglican in religious faith.
For over twenty years Major William O. H. Dodds has been connected with the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, being at present the assistant manager for Quebec and the maritime provinces. He was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, July 3, 1867, a son of the late Charles Dodds, a manufacturer of that province, who died in June, 1893. The mother of our subject, who was before her marriage Miss Agnes Smith, died in December, 1910.
William Dodds received his education in the Yarmouth high school and the Yarmouth Academy of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He completed his school education in 1884 and then entered the employ of the Bank of Yarmouth, remaining with that institution until 1887. From 1887 to 1888 he assisted his father in the wholesale and retail dry-goods business, but in the latter year came to Montreal, entering the wholesale dry-goods trade, with which line he continued until 1892. In that year he joined the staff of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York as cashier and, rising through various positions, was made the assistant manager of the concern for Quebec and the maritime provinces, which office he yet holds. Mr. Dodds has also been one of the promoters of the Consumers’ Cotton Company.