French fry tycoon Harrison McCain dead
New Brunswick business giant Harrison McCain, who with his brother built the largest french fry company in the world, died Thursday at the age of 76.
The founding chairman of McCain Foods Ltd. passed away in a Boston hospital. Friends said he died as a result of kidney failure.
McCain and his younger brother Wallace launched their company in the small New Brunswick town of Florenceville in 1956, building it into a multinational conglomerate selling frozen foods, juice and especially french fries.
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McCain Foods is easily the world's largest maker of french fries, accounting for about a third of the world's supply.
Harrison and Wallace McCain parted business ways in the early 1990s after arguing over who would succeed them in the leadership of McCain Foods.
Wallace McCain left the province to take over the publicly traded Maple Leaf Foods Inc., headquartered in Toronto.
Harrison went on to expand McCain Foods Ltd. into a company that currently employs 18,000 people worldwide. It is one of the largest privately held companies in Canada.
Harrison McCain was a Companion of the Order of Canada and was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1993.