Harry Steele

Harold Raymond Steele, (June 9, 1929 – January 28, 2022) was a Newfoundland-born Canadian businessman, entrepreneur, and officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. He had business ventures in transportation, hotels and radio, most notably Newfoundland Capital Corporation and Eastern Provincial Airways.

Early life Steele was born in Musgrave Harbour, Dominion of Newfoundland, on June 9, 1929 to Stanley Steele, a contractor with the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, and his wife, Kathleen "Katie" Steele [née Power]. He studied at Memorial University of Newfoundland, He then joined the Royal Canadian Navy to meet his obligations with the University Naval Training Division, the program that helped fund his education.

Career Steele started investing in the stock market during the late 1950s, when he was a teacher at the Maritime Warfare School in Halifax. Shortly before retiring from the navy, he started purchasing shares in Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA), which was losing money at the time. Steele foresaw that the provincial government's newly announced hydro projects in Labrador would bring about more demand for flights to the region. He subsequently obtained a controlling interest in Halifax Daily News in 1984, before buying CHTN-FM in Charlottetown two years later. The following year, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from Saint Mary's University. Steele was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in November 1991 and invested in April of the following year. He was inducted into the Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame in 1998, and into the Newfoundland and Labrador Business Hall of Fame in 2000. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. He received the Ernst & Young Atlantic Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. The Steele Ocean Sciences Building at Dalhousie University and Steele Community Centre in Gander are named in his honour.