R.I.P. Bill Ferguson, former Blue Jays board chair
Former Toronto Blue Jays board chair Bill Ferguson passed away on February 10 at the age of 86.
March 12, 2024
By Danny Gallagher
Canadian Baseball Network
Bill Ferguson and Don McDougall were about as tight knit as you could get.
"We were very, very close. We happened to both come from the Maritimes. We both have five kids, virtually the same ages. We got along really, really well,'' McDougall said in talking about Ferguson, who died at age 86 in Kirkland, Que., on Feb. 10.
McDougall was the architect of the original Blue Jays ownership as the representative for Labatt's Breweries which held a 45% stake in the new Toronto team that began play in 1977. Businessman R. Howard Webster also held a 45% chunk and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce came in with 10%.
Ferguson, a certified chartered accountant, was CFO for Webster's Imperial Trust company in Montreal, spent a number of years on the Jays' board of directors before being appointed chairman in the early 1990s when Webster's health began to fail.
"Bill represented the Webster money on the board,'' McDougall explained. "He was the Webster nominee for the board when Webster was not functioning. Back then, there was much more individual ownership but today, there is a lot more corporate ownership (Rogers currently owns the Jays).’’
From 1976 to 1981, Jays board members included Webster and or Ferguson, McDougall and bank representative David Lewis. The late Ontario premier John Robarts, who sat on Webster’s board of directors, also was a Jays board member at one time.
Ferguson loved the Jays and even though he lived in Montreal, the land of the Expos, he was often seen in Jays' apparel. Ferguson was instrumental in the subsequent sale of the Jays to Labatt's and Interbrew.
It was during Ferguson's time as chairman that he gave an Ottawa Sun reporter (me) one of the biggest scoops ever -- off the record. Now that Ferguson has passed away, I can come clean on this matter.
On Oct. 26, 1991, I called up Ferguson at his Montreal office to see if there was any news at all from the Jays' end because he was the chairman of the board. It was just a call out of the blue. This is how exclusive stories emanate.
I was shocked when Ferguson told me in confidence that Jays general manager Pat Gillick received permission from him and the board to interview for the president's position with the Chicago Cubs.
Gillick first approached Jays president Paul Beeston and then Beeston took the request to the board. McDougall said Beeston and Gillick would very often be present at board of directors meetings.
Beeston and Gillick were the faces of the Jays after Peter Bavasi left, people like Ferguson were somewhat anonymous but very important in the running of the franchise.
Gillick met in Chicago with Cubs president Stanton Cook. None of the Chicago papers had the scoop I plucked.
"I don't think Pat will leave us. I hope not,'' Ferguson had told me. "Hopefully, he will stay. He has everything he wants with us.''
Sure enough, when I did connect with Gillick a day later, he said he had "unfinished business'' with the Jays and decided to stay with Toronto. It all paid off because the following two seasons, the Jays won the World Series, feats that exhilarated Ferguson.
A burial ceremony for Ferguson is scheduled in his hometown of Saint John, N.B. later this year. He was an accomplished athlete at Saint John Vocational High School where he captained the rugby, hockey and track and field teams. He later attended Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. and Hamilton’s McMaster University, where he obtained his CPA designation.
He's survived by his wife Mary Ann and children Bill (Donna), Terence (Monique), Elizabeth, Robert (Danielle) and Shannon (Mark) and 19 grandchildren.
Danny Gallagher’s new Expos book called Explosion is available at Amazon.