Profile of DON CLARKSON

Don began his 43 year career with what started as a summer job at Bongard & Co. in 1950. His first job was to chalk up stock prices on the board in the office which he got from the ticket tape, and every hour he picked up floor tickets from the TSE trading floor. When he was 21, he passed the traders test and became Bongard’s spare trader. Hugh Barker was head trader and Don’s job was to relieve the regular traders for lunch breaks and holidays, including Roy Pollard, Ken Cannon, & Mike Henry.

After 14 years, Don moved to J.B. White to trade with Peter Conacher and Jim Bagshaw, then to Burgess Graham where he became a Registered Trader with stocks on post 7. Some of the pro traders around that post at that time were Jack Hardy, Doug Mowatt, Hugh Nickle, and Cliff Jones. Don was one of the first R.T.’s to go into CATS for what was to be a one year experiment. Remember the CATS corner? Just before the trading floor at 234 Bay was closed for the move to the Exchange Tower, Don accepted a position with the TSE surveillance department and moved up to become a TSE Director until he took early retirement in 1993 (Randy Reynolds took over his stocks). Always involved in community service in his spare time, he was a governor of Sheridan College, and a governor of Oakville Hospital. After retiring, Don moved to Penetanguishene on Georgian Bay and took up sailing, Traditional Sailing. He has sailed, as a crew member, in a number of tall ships on voyages around the Great Lakes.