Richard A. N. Bonnycastle, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetRichard A. N. Bonnycastle
Canadian businessman
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Richard A. N. Bonnycastle
- Richard Arthur Northwood Bonnycastle (born September 26, 1934 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) He is a Canadian businessman who is the former owner and publisher of Harlequin Enterprises (Harlequin Enterprises was founded in 1949 by his father Richard H.
- G.
- Bonnycastle) the world’s largest publisher of romantic fiction and an owner of Thoroughbred racehorses Harlequin Ranches.
- He is part of the Bonnycastle family founded in Canada by British military officer, Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle. Dick Bonnycastle was educated at Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ontario and graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1956 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
- After graduation he worked for the Great West Life Assurance Company and subsequently, Richardson Securities of Canada as a Corporate Underwriter.
- Concurrently, he operated Cavendish Investing Ltd., to which, commencing in 1968, he devoted all of his time. Dick has had a distinguished business career spanning more than half a century, including decades of experience on the corporate governance side as the Chairman and Independent Director of many Canadian Corporations as varied as Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
- (1968-1981), Torstar Ltd.
- (1975-1982), The Canada Development Investment Corporation (CDIC) (1978-1988), National Leasing Group, Bracknell Corporation(1983-1990), Patheon Inc.
- (1984-1986), Rupertsland Resources Ltd.
- (1975-1983), Westco Restaurants Inc.
- (founders of Moxies)(1992-1996) and Western Feedlots Ltd.
- (1970-1978) to name a few.
- Dick is currently Chairman and President of Cavendish Investing Ltd.
- and Pacific Iron Ore Corporation. Within a few years of taking over from his father, he moved the company's operations to Toronto, Ontario where he would build it into a major international force in the book publishing industry.
- By 1971, Dick Bonnycastle had orchestrated the buyout of British publisher Mills & Boon and had contracted with Pocket Books and Simon & Schuster to distribute the Mills & Boon novels in the United States.
- In addition, he oversaw expansion to Australia in 1974, The Netherlands in 1975, set up a joint venture in 1976 in West Germany and in 1977 established a subsidiary in France.
- Dick Bonnycastle saw his company grow to where it would command eighty percent of the romance fiction market in North America.
- In late 1975, Toronto Star Ltd.
- purchased a 52.5 percent interest in Harlequin Enterprises and in 1981 acquired the balance of the company's shares. Dick has also published 4 books, To Ride the Wind – Albert Hochbaum, A Gentleman Adventurer, I Fought Reil, My Life with Birds – Angus Shortt Dick is a supporter of various causes related to nature an the environment and has been on the Council, Fort Whyte Centre for Environmental Education (1988-2015), Trustee, Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research (1990-1995), Founder (one of 10) of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association (1988), Trustee North American Wildlife Foundation, operating Delta Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Station (1978-1988)
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