Paul Beeston

Paul McGill Beeston

• School University of Western Ontario

• Born June 20, 1945

Biographical Information

Paul Beeston was the president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1989-1997. He rejoined the franchise in 2008, after the departure of Paul Godfrey and became President CEO again, staying until the end of the 2015 season.

Beeston has a long history with the Jays, joining the club as an accountant in 1976. He earned a degree in Economics and Political Science at the University of Western Ontario in 1967. In 1968, he started working for the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand and earned his Chartered Accountant designation in 1971.

He later served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball in 1997. He was much loved by the employees in Toronto, and he was sadly missed when he left the club the first time, leading to his return a decade later. When he retired, he was succeeded by Mark Shapiro, former Geeral Manager and later team President of the Cleveland Indians.

He has received many honors over the years. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1998, and he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. He was inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. His name was added to the Blue Jays Level of Excellence at Rogers Centre in 2008. Finally, he has also received honorary degrees from Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York and from the University of Western Ontario.

Beeston has also given his support to several charity and community service organizations, including arts festivals, psychiatric programs and children's hospitals.

Sources

• Canada Sports Hall of Fame entry
• Order of Canada entry

External Sites

Wikipedia entry