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Alexis Nihon

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Alexis Louis Nihon
Nihon in 1930
Born
Alexis Louis Nihon

(1902-05-15)15 May 1902
Died8 April 1980(1980-04-08) (aged 77)
Occupation(s)Inventor and Businessman
SpouseAlice Robert Nihon
Children4, including Alexis Nihon Jr. and Robert Nihon
Parent(s)Alexis Laurent Nihon
Marie Florentine Thiry

Alexis Louis Nihon, OBE (15 May 1902 – 8 April 1980) was a Belgian-born Canadian inventor and businessman.

Biography

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Alexis was born in Liège, Belgium, the son of Alexis Laurent Nihon and Marie Florentine Thiry, he moved to Canada when he was eighteen years old[citation needed].

In 1940, he started the glass manufacturer Compagnie industrielle du verre limitée (Industrial Glass Works Company Limited) in Saint-Laurent, Quebec; it was one of the few Canadian glass manufacturers during the Second World War.[1] He sold it in the 1940s[citation needed]. In 1946, he started Corporation Alexis Nihon (today Alexis Nihon REIT) that would later become one of the largest[citation needed] real estate companies in Canada.

He was married to Alice Robert Nihon and they had four children: two daughters who died young, and Olympic wrestlers Alexis Nihon Jr. and Robert Nihon.[2] He died at his home in Nassau, Bahamas[3] in 1980.

In addition to the REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), his name lives on as a major residential/commercial thoroughfare, Alexis Nihon Boulevard, and Alexis-Nihon Park, both in Saint-Laurent, and the Place Alexis Nihon shopping mall in downtown Montreal. It was built on one of his several tracts of land that he rented to developers.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Canadian Parliament. House of Commons, Debates: official report. Vol. 4. Queen's Printer. 1946. p. 4013. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  2. ^ Fine, Philip (19 March 2013). "Montreal mogul wrestled in '68 Olympics". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Alexis Nihon: Made millions on the tubeless tire, Montreal land", The Globe and Mail, p. 14, 19 April 1980
  4. ^ Place Alexis Nihon. "Our Story". Retrieved 14 June 2010.