Eugene O'Keefe

Eugene O'Keefe (10 December 1827 – 1 October 1913), baptized as Owen Keeffe, was an Irish-born Canadian businessman and philanthropist, well-known in the brewing industry for his signature brews. He incorporated the O'Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited in 1891.

Life and career Born in Bandon, County Cork, he moved with his family to Canada when he was five, eventually settling in Toronto. He married Helen Charlotte Bailey in 1862, with whom he had a son and two daughters.

From 1856 to 1861, he worked at the Toronto Savings Bank. He later was president of the Home Bank of Canada.

In 1861, he was one of the purchasers of Toronto's Victoria Brewery (founded by George Hart and Charles Hannath c.1840s as Hannath & Hart Brewery ), at the corner of Victoria and Gould Streets, which had an annual production of 1,000 barrels. In 1891, he incorporated it as the O'Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited. The brewery would expand to a capacity of 500,000 barrels. He sold the business after his son died in 1911. The company would later become part of Carling O'Keefe Breweries.

O'Keefe was a close friend of Canadian railway magnate Hugh Ryan and served as one of his pallbearers —alongside lieutenant governor of Ontario, Sir Oliver Mowat; Conservative Senator, James Mason; Ontario politician, William Harty; Ontario Banker, W.S. Lee —at Ryan's funeral held in St Michael's Cathedral Basilica in 1899.

In 1909, Pope Pius X made him the first Canadian layman to become a private Papal chamberlain. He died at his home on Bond Street in 1913, aged 85. The former brewery itself is now the Image Arts faculty building.

Since then, a handful of individuals have been actively trying to reestablish the O'Keefe name due to the vital role that he played in shaping the city during the Victorian period. It was not until 2006 that an official biography was written about O'Keefe. The delay was due in large part to a lack of personal and company records.