Stephen Leacock was the first to go. Now “Carl” Riordon. And so it may be a long time before the corner where they held forth daily in the University club sparkles again with quite the same wit, probing conversation and not quite such orthodox views as the uninitiated might expect to hear.  Where Mr. Leacock’s roots were academic, Mr. Riordon’s were industrial. But between them were the firm bonds of a feeling for history, a love for all that is, and was, Canada, and a sense of humour.

Charles Christopher Riordon was one of a pioneering family in the developement of Canada’s great pulp and paper industry. The first family mill in 1862 produced 25 tons of paper monthly. When he sold the Riordon Pulp and Paper Company to Canadian International Paper in 1925, it had large mills at Hawkesbury and Timiskaming. Family properties at one time or another also included both The Mail and The Globe in Toronto. Mr. Riordon was one of the organizers of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association and its first president and, despite his age—he was 92 when he died during the weekend—was still a director of several financial and industrial enterprises.

Montreal Star – June 17th 1958

Montreal “Star” June 17 1958

C. C. Riordon

Stephen Leacock was the first to go. Now “Carl” Riordon. And so it may be a long time before the corner where they held forth daily in the University Club sparkles again with quite the same wit, probing conversation and not quite such orthodox views as the uninitiated might expect to hear. Where Mr. Leacock’s roots were academic, Mr. Riordon’s were industrual. But between them were the firm bonds of a feeling for history, a love for all that is, and was, Canada, and a sense of humor.

Charles Christopher Riordon was one of a pioneering family in the development of Canada’s great pulp and paper industry. The first family mill in 1862 produced 25 tons of paper monthly. When he sold the Riordon Pulp and Paper Company to Canadian International Paper in 1925, it had large mills at Hawkesbury and Timiskaming. Family properties at one time or another also included both The Mail and The Globe in Toronto. Mr. Riordon was on of the organizers of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association and its first president and, despite his age–he was 82 when he died during the weekend–was still a director of several financial and industrial enterprises.

(The above is written verbatim from a clipping in the belongings of the late Patsy Bennett)

John Riordon: 1833 – 1884
Charles Riordon: 1848 – 1931
Carl Riordon: 1876 – 1958

WITH THE DEATH in Montreal on June 14, 1958 of Charles Christopher (Carl) Riordon there came to an end an epoch which is without parallel in the pulp and paper industry of Canada.
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He had great faith in human nature.
He fully believed that most persons were honest and dutiful and capable of many sorts of work.
He urged emancipation from superstitions and appetites.
His strength and solidity were based on a strong sense of humour and a comprehensive philosophy of life.
He had no strong desire for external possessions, but he possessed his own soul and had no demons.
He had great faith in his own convictions, and while not given to dispute, he was not inclined to conciliate opinion.
He was rich in friends and enjoyed life with them as he went, so that when he lost, a friend by death he did not seem to have any vain regret for neglect to give all he could while they were alive.

Charles Riordon was born on November 28th, 1847, in the Village of Bally Bunion, County Kerry, Ireland, the seventh child of Jeremiah Riordon, who had been a medical offiver in the Navy from 1807 to 1821 serving on ships of the frigate class, including the “Bellerophon” during and after the Napoleonic Wars. The family came to Canada in 1850, lived at Weston Ontario for some seven years, and then moved to Rochester, N.Y., where Charles Riordon received his education.

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