Jack McClelland
John Gordon "Jack" McClelland CC (
July 30,
1922 -
June 14,
2004) was a
Canadian publisher.
Born and raised in
Toronto,
Ontario, he attended the
University of Toronto Schools,
St. Andrew's College (1937-1940), and then the
University of Toronto, interrupting his studies to serve in the
Royal Canadian Navy in the
Battle of the Atlantic. McClelland began working for
McClelland and Stewart, his father's company, in 1946, becoming president in 1961. Under his control, the company promoted Canadian literature and encouraged Canadian authors such as
Margaret Atwood,
Pierre Berton,
Leonard Cohen,
Farley Mowat and
Mordecai Richler. He introduced a popular series of Canadian authors in paperback, making Canadian writing more accessible to the general public. In
1985, he sold the company.
Many of the current heads of Canadian publishing companies got their start at McClelland and Stewart while Jack McClelland was running the company.
In 1976 he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 2000.
He had been in poor health for some time when he died in Toronto at the age of 81.
Imagining Canadian Literature: The Selected Letters of Jack McClelland, Toronto: Key Porter, 1998. (edited by Sam Solecki)
James King,
Jack: The Story of Jack McClelland, Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1999.
