Winnipeg business leader was a relentless proponent of the city
THE Manitoba business community got a little less interesting, a little less generous, a little quieter and most certainly a little less funny with the passing of Doug Harvey in mid-September.
The owner of Maxim Truck & Trailer and president and CEO of the DLH Group died after a 13-year battle with cancer at age 73.
Harvey got his start in the trucking business as a sales rep at International Harvester after graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Manitoba. As the U.S.-based company began privatizing its dealerships, Harvey took the entrepreneurial plunge and bought his first truck dealership in Winnipeg.
Over the next four-plus decades, he expanded into retail and distribution, manufacturing and land development. Maxim was the highest profile of his enterprises, with 17 locations across Canada, including in Winnipeg and Brandon. Harvey’s businesses employ about 800 people.
A relentless proponent of Winnipeg and a recipient of the Order of Manitoba, Harvey was long one of Manitoba’s busiest and most generous philanthropists, helping raise millions of dollars for causes dear to him, including CancerCare Manitoba, Assiniboine Park, FortWhyte Alive and Harvest Manitoba.
He was the host of FortWhyte’s annual Sunset BBQ for many years and you never had to ask him twice to take the mic. Doug Pollard, co-CEO of Pollard Banknote and who followed in Harvey’s footsteps as the chair of the board of FortWhyte and CancerCare as well as the Sunset BBQ MC, said it’s virtually impossible to count the number of Manitoba organizations that benefitted from his generosity.
“The fact is he was very generous to everything. If he was asked, he gave and he gave generously,” he said.
Pollard said just because Harvey had a great sense of humour didn’t mean he could be a pushover.
“He was tough and I bet he ran a tight ship at Maxim. That’s the interesting thing about Harv. In some moments, he could be gruff and cantankerous, especially if you bought a truck from a competitor and God help you if that competitor wasn’t local. But in the next moment, he could be proud, thankful and emotional. Many times I’ve seen him grouchy, laugh and cry in the same meeting,” he said.
Harvey was the living embodiment that laughter is the best medicine. Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, he hosted numerous galas where he discussed his own situation and had the audience crying — tears of laughter, of course — as he poked fun at the various results of his treatments.
Considering his predisposition to seeing the bright side of, well, everything, I think he would have shared the views of Canadian comedian Norm Macdonald, who died of cancer in 2021. “I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure that when you die, the cancer dies at exactly the same time. To me, that’s not a loss, that’s a draw,” Macdonald said.
In an email to me last year, his never-ending optimism shone through as he was preparing for his fifth cycle of chemotherapy.
“It whacks the shit out of me but it still beats the alternative. I’m now in my 11th year since my diagnosis. I have to do what I have to do because there is too much good stuff to live for. I have six grandkids, three beautiful kids and their spouses and the best honey in the world. How lucky am I?”
Countless Manitobans are asking the same question thanks to his tireless work and generosity.
