Gerry Pencer

Lifelong businessman, devoted humanitarian

For many years, Cott Corp. has been known as the world’s largest manufacturer of private label carbonated soft drinks, doing business with retailers across the globe. But the Tampa, Fla.-based company — founded by Harry Pencer in Montreal in the 1950s — wouldn’t be the giant it is today if not for Gerry Pencer, Harry’s son, who served in several executive roles from 1983 through 1997.

But though his period at Cott is perhaps the greatest testament to his entrepreneurial vision, perseverance and dynamic optimism, it was only one milestone of many in the lifelong businessman’s career.

A businessman early on

Born in Montreal in 1945, Pencer showed a knack for building businesses early in his life, starting a vending machine operation in his teens that grew into the city’s largest institutional caterer. He also ran the successful Curly Joe’s restaurant chain, headed a short-lived meat-packing business in Calgary, and created a financial services conglomerate called Financial Trustco, which he relocated to Toronto from Calgary in 1986.

Two years after the stock market crash in 1987, which severely hurt Financial Trustco and forced Pencer to sell the company’s assets, he joined Cott as president and CEO, having already served as chairman since his father passed away in 1983. During his tenure, the company’s annual sales jumped from $25 million in 1989 to $1.4 billion in 1997. By then, Cott had plants across North America, and had expanded its business through retailers in the European market.

And the growth in sales began when Pencer — who believed private label carbonated soft drinks should be as good as, if not better than, the national brands’ — agreed to license Cott’s Royal Crown Cola concentrates to retailers for their own-brand carbonated soft drinks, says Jerry Fowden, Cott’s CEO.

“Gerry understood that consumers wanted not just [a good] price, but quality,” he states. “To Gerry, private labels were retailer brands — offering quality that matched or surpassed anything on offer by national brands.”

Pencer believed that if retailers developed successful carbonated soft drinks programs, then they could reposition their entire store brand programs and stores, Fowden states. He created a Cott division called Retail Brand International, which helped retailers evaluate their own-brand portfolios, create new programs and develop effective merchandising and marketing programs. He also purchased Watt Design Group to help retailers develop eye-catching packaging.

“Supporting the retailer to enable them to become more successful was a passion that he carried seven days a week,” Fowden says. “His tireless energy and optimism inspired everyone who he touched.”

A devoted humanitarian

Pencer’s passion for building businesses was as strong as his passion for helping others. As a benefactor to a range of charities, Pencer supported the Israel Tennis Centers Foundation, OCAD University (formerly known as the Ontario College of Art & Design), Toronto’s Design Exchange, the University of Calgary and Alberta’s University of Lethbridge. With his wife, Nancy, he funded an endoscopy clinic at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital. And he even donated a sizable art collection to Brampton, Ontario’s Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives.

In 1997, Pencer was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After undergoing surgery to remove the tumor that May, he developed the concept for and began funding the Gerry & Nancy Pencer Brain Tumor Centre, which resides today at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital. The center is devoted to brain tumor research and treatment, as well as patient and family support.

Tragically, Pencer lost his battle with cancer on Feb. 3, 1998, at the age of 54. But today, many can testify that his work allowed them to win their battle with the illness. More than 16 years later, the Centre is world-renowned not only for its state-of-the-art medical treatments and enhanced patient-centered care, but also for its significant contribution to cutting-edge research.