Paul Beeston

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Paul McGill Beeston, CM (born June 20, 1945) is the former president of Major League Baseball and former president of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Born in Welland, Ontario, Beeston earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics/political science from Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario in 1967. He obtained his Chartered Accountant designation in 1971 and worked for Coopers & Lybrand until 1976.

Beeston was the first employee of the Toronto Blue Jays, joining in 1976. He became vice president of business operations in 1977, executive vice president in 1984, president and chief operating officer in 1989, and president and chief executive officer in 1991. From 1997 until 2002 he was president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball.

Beeston briefly served as president of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in 1994.

In 1988, Beeston was named a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1998 he was elected to the board of directors of the Baseball Hall of Fame and in 2002 he was inducted in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. He is a a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1994 and an honorary doctor of social sciences from Niagara University in 2001. He was placed in the Blue Jays Level of Excellence at Rogers Centre on April 4, 2008 prior to the Jays' home opener versus the Boston Red Sox.[1]

[edit] References

• Paul Beeston. Global Business Forum. Retrieved on February 24, 2005.
• Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry. University of Toronto Press. Retrieved on October 10, 2007.