Jim Smith

Maude Hedley “Jim” Smith went by many names over her lifetime, but she first became known in 1929 as simply Maude Smith when she and partner Jack Eastwood were the runners-up in that year’s Canadian Figure Skating Championship’s pairs competition. A year earlier they had skated to a 10th place finish at the 1928 Winter Olympics. In addition they attended the 1928 World Championships and placed 6th, and had not improved their performance two years later when they ranked 7th at the same tournament. The duo had no more success in 1932, placing 7th in their final world championship, and did not reach the Canadian national podium again until 1933, when they were again runners-up. They had a third-place finish at the 1934 Canadian Championships before retiring from the sport.

Smith married Bud McDougald, who eventually rose to be the manager of operations at Canada’s wealthy Argus Corporation. At his death in 1978 he was worth an estimated 936 million in 2007 Canadian dollars. After his death she would soon be propelled once more into the national spotlight, this time for having her shares in the Argus Corporation taken by a young Conrad Black. Convinced by Black that McDougald’s successor Max Meighen would be problematic for the company, Smith, her sister Cecil, and her sister-in-law Doris Phillips gave him permission to remove Meighen from the company and later sold him their shares, which effectively maneuvered Black into the position of chairman of the company. Smith lived in a luxurious estate in Toronto, which was designated as a historical site by the city in 2001, with the remainder of her assets until her 1996 death.