Steve Stavro

Canadian businessman

Steve Atanas Stavro, (September 27, 1926 – April 23, 2006; born Manoli Stavroff Sholdas) was a Macedonian Canadian businessman, grocery store magnate, Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder, sports team owner, and a noted philanthropist. Under the leadership of Steve Stavro, what began as a single produce store in the east end of Toronto in 1954 grew into Knob Hill Farms, one of Canada's largest grocery chains all with only 10 locations in and around Toronto. Knob Hill Farm's Cambridge location, founded in 1991, had the honor of being the largest grocery store in the world at the time of its opening. Stavro was also an avid sports fan and heavily involved with the Canadian sports scene, beginning in 1961 with the founding of the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League together with George Gross. Stavro would go on to purchases the controlling interest in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) in 1994 making him the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1998 MLSE would purchase Toronto's recently formed NBA team, the Toronto Raptors. This deal made Steve Stavro the principal owner of two of Toronto's three principal North American sports franchises. In addition, through this period, Stavro was instrumental in the construction of the new arena to house both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors, the Air Canada Centre (now called Scotiabank Arena). Stavro's sports passions also included the world of horse racing. Stavro's interests began in 1967 with the purchase of two yearlings and the founding of Knob Hill Stables. Over the years the stables inventory swelled to a peak of over 80 horses on their roster. Stable standouts included Molson Million and Prince of Wales Stakes winner Benburb, Canadian International Stakes Winner Thornfield and Prince of Wales Stakes winner and Queen's Plate runner up, Alezzandro. In a speech to the Canadian Senate following Stavro's passing, Senator Trevor Eyton paid tribute to Steve's life and stated: “Steve Stavro's contributions to business and sport in Canada will not be forgotten. He was a man that followed his passions and a man of self made success coming from hard work and determination.”

Born in the village of Gabresh (today known as Gavros, and located in the Kastoria regional unit of the administrative region of Western Macedonia, Greece), Stavro and some family members, immigrated to Toronto during the Great Depression in 1933. The family reunited with his father, who had come to Canada in 1927. Stavro and his sister, Gloria, attended Duke of Connaught Public School and Riverdale Collegiate Institute. They also attended Bulgarian language classes at Sts. Cyril & Methody Macedono Bulgarian Orthodox Church, where Stavro's parents were active members. He worked in his father's store, Louis' Meat Market, in Toronto's east end at Queen Street and Coxwell Avenue and left school after Grade 10 to work full time. In 1951, he opened his own fresh produce stand across the street under the Knob Hill Farms name. Stavro said he took the name from a box of produce from California. By 1954, he was running his own traditional grocery store at 425 427 Danforth Avenue. By the late 1950s, Stavro was operating nine grocery stores and outdoor markets in Toronto.

Steve Stavro, founder of Knob Hill Farms, was a serial innovator and one of the early adopters of the concept of a big box retailer. Knob Hill Farms bought in very large volumes to secure maximum discounts from brokers, wholesalers and farm co operatives. Knob Hill Farms advertised heavily in Toronto area newspapers and customers flocked to the stores for prices, wide selection and the unique experience. The decision to purchase stock in bulk necessitated the construction of "food terminals” that were significantly larger than any competitors at the time. Over the years Knob Hill Farms would construct the largest grocery store in Ontario, then Canada, followed by North America and finally the world with the construction of Knob Hill Farms’ Cambridge terminal in 1991. Stavro brought a focus to purchasing from local farms, where seasonally appropriate, both to decrease transportation costs and to support local business. The Ontario Municipal Board and the Ontario government approved a 12 acre (5 ha) site in 1982 for the seventh Knob Hill Farms terminal, this one at Weston Road and Highway 401 in the Weston community of Toronto. For this opening a team of executives from The Kroger Company, the largest supermarket chain in the US, flew in on a company jet for the opening. The site was previously an industrial building dating back to the 1930s and was used for the assembly of airplanes (de Havilland Mosquitos) by Massey Harris during World War II. The 325,000 square foot (30,200 square metre) store opened May 14, 1986. Features of the supermarket included a man made waterfall, rides for children and a variety of shops. The store also featured John Richmond's 1,300 foot (400 metre) mural depicting the history of food from Prometheus to Marc Garneau. In 1984 Knob Hill Farms purchased 1900 Eglinton Ave. East from General Electric on the closing of its factory. The plan was to construct a new food terminal catering to the Scarborough community. This plan, however, was opposed by some members of the local community and led by the area alderman, a real estate broker, who felt the terminal would be “too disruptive to the existing fabric of development”. In 1987 the application for development was formally turned down. The denial came as somewhat of a surprise forcing Knob Hill Farms to pivot its strategy for the location, turning it into a wholesale retailer on the north side of the building and the south side of the building became Knob Hill Farms’ head office. On August 21, 1991, Knob Hill Farms opened a terminal in Cambridge Ontario, the first outside the Greater Toronto Area. The terminal measured 340,000 square feet (31,500 square metres), making it the largest food retail store in the world. It was estimated that the terminal saw over 20,000 customers on opening day with hour long lines and traffic jams surrounding the store. The Store featured 5,250 feet (1,600 metres) of refrigeration units, a 500 foot (150 metre) meat counter and 1,500 parking spaces. Knob Hill Farms had lost market share to new competitors, including Walmart and Costco and existing competitors such as Loblaws. In addition, Knob Hill Farms had incurred significant debts. The final store — the Weston site — closed in February 2001 and Stavro ensured that all debts were repaid in full, including termination payments to all employees.

Stavro's first venture into professional soccer was in 1961 when he, together with George Gross and others, founded the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League. This league was a four team league with representation from Hamilton, Montreal, and two Toronto teams, the Toronto Italia, which moved from the National Soccer League, and Toronto City, a brand new endeavour. After formation, Stavro and Gross travelled to the United Kingdom seeking to sign stars to play for Toronto City in their off season and to bring star power to the new league. Stavro and Gross returned with the signatures of goalkeeper and Scottish captain Tommy Younger and forward Jackie Mudie, England and Fulham captain Johnny Haynes, and Northern Irish and Tottenham Hostspur captain Danny Blanchflower. These players were each stars in their own right, but the biggest move, however, was the signing of Stanley Matthews, a legend of the game, and the only player to be knighted while actively playing. It was also the last time that England, Scotland and Northern Ireland captains played on the same team. The team played 12 games in the 1967 season with six being home games played at Varsity Stadium. Their record for the year was four wins, three losses and five ties to finish third in their division, failing to qualify for the playoffs. In December 1967 the United Soccer Association and the National Professional Soccer League merged to form the North American Soccer League. Summing up Stavro's contribution to Canadian soccer, Senator Trevor Eyton stated that: “Steve was involved in the management of the Continental Soccer League, the International Soccer League, the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League, the United Soccer Association and the North American Soccer League. As a result of this support and contribution to soccer in Canada, Steve was honoured as a life member of the Canadian Soccer Association.” In addition, in recognition of Stavro's contribution to Canadian soccer he was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005 as an “honoured builder” of the sport.

Stavro's interest in horse racing began in 1967 when he acquired a pair of yearlings – Boy Bandit and Danforth Dan. They were conditioned by J. C. Meyer. However, it wasn't until the early 1980s that Stavro became passionate about thoroughbreds. As his passion grew, he founded Knob Hill Stable in Newmarket Ontario. At the peak of Knob Hill Stables, there were more than 60 horses which included 15 or more racers at Woodbine Racetrack. To further grow Knob Hill Stables prospects Stavro purchased a 300 acre (120 ha) farm in Kentucky in 1988. Stavro had begun to take a bigger interest in not only racing horses, but breeding them as well. The Kentucky farm was used for training in the winter, but more importantly, served as the main location for Knob Hill Stables breeding operations. Later in the year Benburb had another upset win, this one in the GR2 Molson Export Million. In the race Benburb knocked off a blue chip field that included eventual U. S. Horse of the Year A. P. Indy, Alydeed, and GR1 winner Technology. The win was the highest stake victory a Knob Hill Horse had ever achieved and helped to cement Stavro as one of the premiere Canadian stable owners. At the end of the 1992 season Benburb was selected as the Sovereign Award winner for the Canadian Horse of the Year as well as Champion 3 year old male honours. In the early 2000s Knob Hill Stables experienced moderate success, with 20 horses accumulating career earnings of US$70,000 or more, however, only two horses achieved graded stakes wins, Chopinina and Saoirse. After Stavro's death in 2006, his estate assumed the management of Knob Hill Stable, looking to carry on Stavro's legacy and love of horse racing. That year Stavro was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame. The 2006 season would prove to be successful for the stables largely due to one of the horses Stavro purchased at the Keeneland Yearling Sale, Leonnatus Anteas. Named after one of Alexander the Great's body guards the two year old horse would go on to win all three races he entered, with each race being on a different track surface. For his efforts Leonnatus was voted 2006 Sovereign Award Champion for 2 Year Old Horse. Leonnatus quickly emerged as one of the more promising Canadian racing horses and began the 2007 season with high expectations. He was a winterbook favorite for the Queens Plate race; however, he unfortunately could not race due to an infection in his pastern. The three year old colt made his next start in the September 15 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Louisiana, finishing fourth. Even with Leonnatus’ injuries, the 2007 season was one of the most successful in the history of Knob Hill Stables. Leading the charge was the Knob Hill Stables bred three year old Alezzandro, a derivative of the name of Stavro's hero, Alexander the Great. That year Alezzandro won the Prince of Wales Stake and finished second in the Queen's Plate, a goal that Stavro strived for his entire life. Alezzandro finished the year 65th in earnings for all of North America and received the Sovereign Award for Champion 3 Year Old Colt. For the 2007 season Knob Hill Stables finished with US$1,247,000 in earnings, the second highest earnings in their history. In 2008 Knob Hill Stables saw less success than years prior. Their only major stake win for the season was Nicki Knew which won the Boston City Stake. Overall the Stables’ earnings were down to US$608,000. The 2008 season would be the last season that Knob Hill Stables won a major stake competition. Over the next four years the breeding program Stavro championed would slow and overall stable inventory dropped sharply. The horses still racing were mainly holdovers from the 2007/2008 season. 2012 would be the last year that the Stable entered horses into racing competitions. In its 40 year career Knob Hill Stable proved to be one of the premiere Canadian stables. Throughout its history it produced 85 stakes winners that raced throughout North America and Europe. Knob Hill Stables remains one of the few Canadian stables to win the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association award for the top owner horse breeder in North America. Although the Toros team would move to Birmingham, Alabama after the 1976 season, Stavro's tenure with the team would provide valuable sports management experience for his future endeavors. A long time friend of Toronto Maple Leafs’ majority owner, Harold Ballard, Stavro had served as a director of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. Together with the other two Maple Leaf Gardens’ directors, Don Giffin, and Don Crump, Stavro served as an executor of the Ballard estate following Ballard's death on April 11, 1990. In the period between Ballard's death and October 1991, Stavro, Giffin and Crump assumed all management responsibilities for the entire organization. At that time, Stavro became chairman of the board of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. and Governor of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club. In the same year, Stavro repaid a $20 million loan that had been extended to Ballard in 1980 by Molson Brewery, which also owned the Leafs’ bitter rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. In return for repaying the loan, Stavro was granted an option to buy Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd.’s shares from Ballard's estate, equal to 60% of the total outstanding shares of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. In a separate transaction, Molson Brewery also agreed to sell its 20% stake in Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. to Stavro. The purchase from Molson Brewery closed in 1994, and shortly thereafter Stavro bought the Ballard estate's shares for $34 a share, totalling $75 million. In the purchase from Ballard's estate, Stavro partnered with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Through this transaction, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan acquired 49% of the shares of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. and the balance of 51% was held by a holding company, MLG Holdings Limited (and that company was 80% owned by Stavro and 20% owned by TD Bank). The purchase was the subject to a review by the Ontario Securities Commission and a lawsuit from Ballard's son, Bill Ballard, and in the end, the deal stood. In 1996 Stavro sold 25% of MLG Holdings Limited to Larry Tanenbaum's company, Kilmer Sports Inc., for a reported $21 million. Around this same time Maple Leaf Garden Ltd. began to show increased interest in moving locations from Maple Leaf Gardens, their home arena since 1931, as well as interest in acquiring Toronto's newly formed National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the Toronto Raptors. At this time, the Raptors were looking to build a new arena, which was a condition of being granted a franchise by the NBA. The Raptors invited the Maple Leafs to be a tenant at the new arena they were constructing in downtown Toronto. Initially Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. rebuffed the invitation because they concluded that “the footprint is too small”. When Allan Slaight acquired control of the Toronto Raptors in late 1996, talks recommenced regarding the proposed joint use of the new proposed arena. Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. proposed constructing a new $300 million shared arena on top of the rail tracks at Union Station and the land on which the Toronto Raptors were to build their new arena would become a bus terminal. This proposal died when an agreement could not be reached with the City of Toronto government on the rent for the land. In November 1997 Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. submitted a new proposal for a $250 million arena to be located at Exhibition Place. This would have been a hockey only facility as the Toronto Raptors had commenced construction of their own arena south of Union Station. Then, on February 12, 1998, after years of difficult negotiations, Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. purchased 100% of both the Toronto Raptors and the new arena that was under construction, from Allan Slaight and the Bank of Nova Scotia. Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. paid a reported $467 million for both assets, with $179 million attributable to the team and $288 million attributable to the arena under construction. Stavro personally took the lead in significantly revising and upgrading the arena as a top tier entertainment venue. On February 20, 1999, the Scotiabank Arena (formerly known as the Air Canada Centre), was opened to the public. This opening marked a new era of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey. The first game at the new arena took place against historic rivals the Montreal Canadiens. The Toronto Maple Leafs would go on to win the game 3–2 on an overtime goal by Steve Thomas. In the same year MLG Ventures Limited purchased all the remaining publicly traded shares of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. and took it private. Following this purchase Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. and MLG Ventures Limited amalgamated to form Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE). Following the creation of MLSE, Stavro continued to exercise control of the company through the following share structure. MLG Holdings Limited held a 51% interest in MLSE. Stavro owned 55% of this holding company and the minority shareholders were Kilmer Sports Inc. (25%) and TD Capital Group (20%). The remaining 49% of MLSE was owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. This tiered ownership structure gave Stavro effective control of MLSE with only a net 28% stake. Stavro was also known in the local Macedonian community to have a friendly competition with fellow Macedonian Mike Ilitch who owned a rival NHL hockey team, the Detroit Red Wings. Stavro stepped down as Chairman of MLSE in 2003 in favour of Tanenbaum, as part of a restructuring plan that also saw his ownership stake sold to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

As well as being a notable businessman and sports owner, Steve Stavro was well known in the Toronto community for the charitable causes he championed, much of which was given without public recognition. As The Globe and Mail Chairman Kenneth Thompson said:
"Steve was generous to a fault. His friendship and support embraced many grateful and needy recipients. He did not seek public recognition of this. The satisfaction of helping others was reward enough." Stavro was also well known for his contributions to many major infrastructure projects in Toronto based hospitals. The most notable project was the 1988 construction of the Stavro Emergency Department in what is now the Michael Garron Hospital, located in the East York area of Toronto, Stavro's childhood neighbourhood. (His family foundation was subsequently the key donor in the refurbishment of the department in 2007.) Throughout the years the Stavro family foundation has continued to provide funding for this hospital. Stavro was also a frequent donor to various programs at the Mount Sinai and Wellesley hospitals in Toronto. One of the more prominent projects was the establishment at Mount Sinai hospital of the “Steve Atanas Stavro Familial Gastrointestinal Cancer Registry”. As a result of this initiative individuals with a potential family history of gastrointestinal cancer can be more easily screened, providing opportunities for preventative measures to be implemented before development of cancer. Stavro's commitment to the cause of healthcare was not only limited to the Toronto area. In 1987 the Stavro foundation provided funding for the construction of the “Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit” of the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, Israel. The neo natal unit was a major medical advance for the community as it allowed premature newborns to receive a much higher standard of care post birth, greatly increasing their odds of survival. In addition to Stavro's major healthcare donations, he contributed broadly, including the arts (Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The National Ballet, and Art Gallery of Ontario), universities and high schools across Ontario, old age homes and a variety of community endeavours in Toronto. Particularly noteworthy was Knob Hill Farms longstanding partnership with the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, a largely indoor agricultural fair held at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Knob Hill Farms sponsored a variety of different attractions at the fair including a designated "Knob Hill Lane" section that contained a number of displays as well as a petting zoo. Stavro was also strongly committed to various multicultural communities within the Toronto region. As an example, in 1967, he contributed to the founding of Caribana (currently, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival). This festival is world renowned and considered one of the Toronto's summer highlights, regularly drawing well over 1 million people to North America's largest street festival. Stavro's charitable giving continues through his family foundation. A recent donation led the YMCA of Greater Toronto to name its Kingston Road facility, which is currently under construction, The Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA. This new YMCA is slated to open in the second quarter of 2022.

Stavro was a director of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, a member of the executive committee of the Economic Council of Canada, a trustee of the Ontario Jockey Club, and honorary campaign chairman of Toronto East General Hospital Emergency Critical Care Fund (1987–89). Stavro was a founding sponsor of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and a member of its advisory council, founding member of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, corporate member of 4 H Canada, member of the board of directors of the John G. Diefenbaker Memorial Foundation, member of the advisory council for the Equine Research Centre, member of the Jockey Club of Canada, member of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society, and a member of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) of Lexington, Kentucky.