The entrepreneur from central casting: finally a biographer pins down one of Canada's richest businessmen.

The entrepreneur from central casting: finally a biographer pins down one of Canada's richest businessmen. Magna Cum Laude cum lau��de?adv. & adj.With honor. Used to express academic distinction: graduated cum laude; 25 cum laude graduates. : How Frank Stronach Frank Stronach, CM (born September 6, 1932 as Franz Strohsack) is an Austrian and Canadian businessman. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, and Magna Entertainment Corp. Became Canada's Best-PaidMan Wayne Lilley Douglas Gibson Books, McClelland and Stewart 362 pages,hardcover ISBN ISBNabbr.International Standard Book NumberISBNInternational Standard Book NumberISBNn abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m9780771052910 It seems that every reporter who interviews Frank Stronach has thesame experience. At the start of his unauthorized biography An unauthorized biography is a biography about a person that was not approved or otherwise authorized by the subject of the biography. Unauthorized biographies are published usually about celebrities. of theAustrian immigrant who became a car parts billionaire, Wayne Lilleytells the story of his first meeting with Stronach. Instead of an interview, it was a lecture, as Stronach explainedhis theory of Fair Enterprise, a kind of mixture of capitalism withhappy workers. It was the philosophy that made him rich and kept hisauto parts Auto parts are components of automobiles. They mainly are, in alphabetic order (only car specific articles or articles with car section): Air filter Automobile self starter Bell housing Brakes Bucket seat Bumper Buzzer Battery plants non-unionized. But it was Stronach's giant egothat astonished a��ston��ish?tr.v. as��ton��ished, as��ton��ish��ing, as��ton��ish��esTo fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. the magazine writer Lilley. "When he was finished, Stronach tore off the sheet, rolled itup, and advised that I should take it with me, suggesting that one dayit would be valuable." Like Lilley, I interviewed Stronach for a magazine article--onMagna's fleet of private aircraft--in the late 1980s. He gave methe same sermon and a doodle, in red felt pen. I remember his words:"Keep this. It will be worth something one day." Like Lilley, I did not keep it. But I am sure there are many otherFair Enterprise doodles Doodles can mean the following: A doodle is an informal scribble or sketch. Doodles is the former mascot of Chick-fil-A, replaced by the Eat Mor Chikin campaign in 1997. Doodles Weaver was an American comedy actor. out there. Maybe they are for sale on eBay. Wayne Lilley has done what at least three other business writershave failed to do: finish a biography of Frank Stronach. But the otherthree--Rod McQueen, Martin O'Malley For the journalist, see Martin O'Malley (journalist). Martin Joseph O'Malley (born January 18 1963) is a Democratic politician and the 61st and current Governor of Maryland. Previously, he served as Mayor of Baltimore City from 1999 to 2007. and Don Rumball--were all paidby Stronach to do the job. When the paymaster did not like what he wasreading, he wrote them a cheque and sent them packing. Stronach did not give any interviews for this book, but Lilley hashis life story down. The professional writers signed off to secrecy, butLilley has obviously spoken to at least one of them. The title of the book shows Lilley has a point of view: Magna CumLaude: How Frank Stronach Became Canada's Best-Paid Man. The way hedid it was with other people's money. While many of the readers ofa journal such as the LRC (Longitudinal Redundancy Check) An error checking method that generates a parity bit from a specified string of bits on a longitudinal track. In a row and column format, such as on magnetic tape, LRC is often used with VRC, which creates a parity bit for each may be bored with subjects like dual classownership, stick with it for a paragraph or two. Frank Stronach controls Magna Corporation and its billions ofdollars in assets with less than 5 percent of the stock. The reason isthat Stronach controls 56.5 percent of the votes. Each of his shares isworth 500 votes. Most of the suckers, from pension fund holders to smallinvestors, own the stock in which each share has just one vote. There iseven a clever twist in the names of the shares. Usually Class A sharesare the super voting shares Voting SharesShares that give the stockholder the right to vote on matters of corporate policy making as well as who will compose the members of the board of directors.Notes:Different classes of shares, such as preferred stock, sometimes don't allow for voting rights. and the second class shares are known asClass B shares. But the Magna shares with one vote are the Class Avoting shares. And the powerful 500-vote shares are called Class Bshares. As Lilley writes, the dual class share structure "effectivelydisenfranchised common shareholders, and turned Magna into a publiclytraded autocracy AUTOCRACY. The name of a government where the monarch is unlimited by law. Such is the power of the emperor of Russia, who, following the example of his predecessors, calls himself the autocrat of all the Russias. over which Stronach alone would hold sway." Thisdual class of share ownership, with super voting stock Voting stockThe shares in a corporation that entitle the shareholder to vote.voting stockStock for which the holder has the right to vote in the election of directors, in the appointment of auditors, or in other matters brought up at the , is legal inCanada. Many family-controlled businesses use it to keep control even asthey "sell" the company and take the public's money.Other examples are Ted Rogers For other uses, see: Edward Rogers (disambiguation).Ted Rogers (30 July 1935 – 2 May 2001) was a fast talking English comedian and light entertainer (who originally started his career as a red coat entertainer) best remembered as the only , the Billes family of Canadian Tire Canadian Tire (TSX:CTC, CTC.A) is one of Canada's 35 largest publicly traded companies and operates an inter-related network of businesses engaged in retailing (hardgoods, apparel and petroleum) and services (financial and automotive). andthe Beaudoin/Bombardier families of Bombardier. There is very little ofthis dual voting class stock in other capitalist countries. Investorsjust will not buy them. So when Stronach wants to vote himself a salary of us$40 million ayear, as he did in 2004, there is no one to stand up to him. Fair Enterprise. Frank Stronach was born Franz Strohsack in Weiz, a small town inAustria, in September of 1932. From 1938 to 1945 the schools in Austriawere run by the Nazis, but Stronach's own stories of his childhooddepict his father as a communist who was anti-fascist, which he saysbalanced out the Nazi propaganda. After the war his mother made sure Franz won an apprenticeship as atool and die maker Tool and die makers are highly skilled workers in the manufacturing industry. Some of the job functions of a tool and die maker consist of producing jigs, fixtures, form tools, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools, and many other mechanical items used in manufacturing to an electronics firm. There he learned the tradethat made him rich. A tool and die maker forms the parts thatmanufacturers use to mass produce anything from a toothbrush to a brakeshoe. It was a portable trade. In 1952, Franz arrived in Montreal with either $40 or $200,according to different versions of the rags-to-riches story. He decidedthat with no French and sketchy English he would be better off inOntario and for a while he washed dishes at a hospital in Kitchener.Soon he was working in a small tool and die shop. The young Stronach learned to make money in a hurry--with hard workand attention to detail. He went from a shop in a Toronto garage in 1957to a company with 224 plants and 82,000 employees in 2005. In the earlydays he would go to see a customer to fix the smallest flaw in a piecehis shop had tooled. But he also quickly learned the lessons of finance,taking control from people he first worked with and eventuallydominating Magna as his private fiefdom fief��dom?n.1. The estate or domain of a feudal lord.2. Something over which one dominant person or group exercises control: . The author detailsStronach's quick rise. He had partners in his early career: BurtPabst built up the business with Stronach at one point. Then they mergedtheir business, Multimatic, with Magna, a company started by JackWarrington. Soon Warrington was gone but the name stayed. Lilley also sketches in Stronach's personal life. He went backto Austria to find a wife. There were two children: Andy, who stays inthe background, and Belinda, who is now better known than her father. Frank Stronach's own political career was a flop. Like hisdaughter, he switched sides. A long-time Conservative supporter, hethought his friend Sinclair Stevens got a bum rap when Brian Mulroneythrew him out of the Cabinet, so in 1988 Stronach ran for the LiberalParty. That, of course, was the election John Turner fought with BrianMulroney over free trade with the United States. Stronach had alreadybeen a huge beneficiary of an earlier free trade agreement, the 1965Auto Pact signed by Prime Minister Lester Pearson. The Auto Pact letcars and car parts flow between Canada and the United States The United States and Canada share a unique legal relationship. U.S. law looks northward with a mixture of optimism and cooperation, viewing Canada as an integral part of U.S. economic and environmental policy. as if therewere no border. All of a sudden a small car parts maker like Stronachand his partner went from sales of about $1 million a year to $4 millionby 1968. But that did not stop Frank from railing against free trade. Helost the 1988 election. After that he almost lost the company. Stronach had been paying toomuch attention to politics and race horses. The stock went to $2. ButStronach brought Magna back and made it more successful than ever. The book does a superb job of making business understandable. Italso deals with the gossip of Stronach's life, in particular how hetires of people in a hurry, including the politician Brian Tobin, whoworked for him for just six months. Frank Stronach runs Magna his way.He is, as Lilley calls him, the entrepreneur from central casting. But Lilley also deals with what might be the most important failureof business in North America: how strong-willed people take control ofboards and then pay themselves far too much money. Frank says if youdon't like it, sell the stock. That is not an answer. Fred Langan is host of CBC News: Business.