William Gooderham, Sr.

Born in Scole, Norfolk, England, the son of James and Sarah Gooderham, he immigrated to York, Upper Canada (now Toronto) in 1832 to invest and partner in a wind-powered flour mill with his brother-in-law, James Worts. Briefly operating as Worts and Gooderham until Worts' death in 1834, Gooderham continued to operate the mill as the William Gooderham Company.

In 1837, he added a distillery to make efficient use of surplus and second-grade grain. Having taken Worts' son, James Gooderham Worts, under his guidance since Worts' death, they became partners in 1845 and renamed the company as Gooderham and Worts.

Expanding their business, they introduced gas for illumination, expanded the use of steam power in the plants and built their own wharf to ship their consignments. By the 1860s, they owned schooners on the Great Lakes. During the 1860s and 1870s, Gooderham was a community and business leader in the Toronto industrial landscape and in transportation and financial services, as well as on the stock exchange, and in the council and the board of arbitration of the Toronto Board of Trade.

In the summer of 1842, he participated with Bishop John Strachan in the founding meeting of Little Trinity Anglican Church, where he later was a warden for 30 years. A marble memorial for Gooderham is mounted on the west wall inside the church.

In 1864, he was appointed president of the Bank of Toronto.