Stanley Marsland
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Biography
Stanley Marsland was born in 1911 in Waterloo, Ontario, and it did not take long before his entrepreneurial savvy was spelling his name across the city. As a teenage hobby, Marsland was extremely interested in electronics. In 1927, this interest led to his start in business at the age of sixteen, where he taught himself all that he needed to know about business and engineering.1 Originally called ‘Marsland Radio Service,’ it was considered to be a long shot by many because it was attempting to grow during the onslaught of the Great Depression in a field that was considered to be too new to be readily accepted in the community. Despite the state of the economy, and people’s views regarding the industry, Marsland Radio Service did grow; it grew to become the largest industrial employer in the city, as well as the largest privately owned electronics business in Canada at the time.2
Marsland also served four federal governments in a range of capacities. Two of these positions were; Director of the machine tool branch for the defence department, and advisor to the deputy minister. For a dollar a year, Marsland even advised the government during the Second World War.3
In 1956, at age 45, Marsland began to pilot his own twin-engine plane, and flew all over North America promoting his business and trying to create more jobs.4 Marsland also built the 13-storey Marsland Centre at the corner of Albert and Erb, which cost an estimated $3 million, which Marsland funded out of his own pocket.5 The Marsland centre was completed on May 14, 1971.6 In 1969, Marsland became the director of the Royal Canadian Mint, in Winnipeg. There, he personally selected all of the tooling and aided in the development of the mints coinage exporting business.
In 1974, Marsland left the mint and turned in his pilots licence for a set of golf clubs and moved to Tuckerstown, Bermuda, where he learned to play golf. Marsland spent some of his time in Bermuda pestering the Bermudian authorities to open a Bermudian mint.7 Marsland battled Alzheimer’s for ten years, and passed away in 1988.8
Company
Founded in 1929, Marsland Radio Service became Marsland Engineering Ltd. There he sold loudspeakers, and he bought the magnets from Indiana Steel Products, out of Valparaiso, Indiana. After speaking with owners in Indiana, Marsland convinced them to open a manufacturing facility in Waterloo, and in 1956 Canada Alloy Castings Ltd. was established. Marsland successfully created almost 1,000 jobs from these ventures, 800 at Marsland Engineering, 170 at Canada Alloy Castings Ltd, and 18 at the Marsland Centre that would open in 1971. Marsland sold Marsland Engineering to Leigh Instruments Ltd, out of Ottawa in 1969, at that time Marsland had nearly 1,500 employees on payroll. 9 Leigh Instruments was unable to sustain the business for very long after Larry Marsland stepped down as president in order to run the newly created Marsland Centre Limited. Leigh closed the Waterloo branch in 1983 and finally went out of business in 1990.
Marsland Engineering supplied such familiar names as Nortel Networks (formerly Northern Electric), and IBM. They offered a diverse range of electromechanical equipment for industry and government. These included microwave components, plotting computers, nuclear instrumentation, TV and FM tuners, rectifiers, relays, amplifiers, and loudspeakers.10
Upon the sale of Marsland Engineering in 1969, Marsland turned his focus to the Marsland Centre, which would become Waterloo’s first high-rise building. At its completion in 1971, the City of Waterloo moved their offices there.11
Accomplishments
Marsland’s career as an entrepreneur took him around the world fourteen times. Received the Confederation Medal for outstanding contribution to Canadian Industry in 1967 In 1969 he was appointed the director of the Royal Canadian Mint Advised two separate federal governments
Today
Stanley Marsland gave back to the Kitchener-Waterloo community in 1969 when he sold his first company Marsland Engineering Ltd. and founded Marsland Centre Limited. The Marsland Centre Limited was thought by many that it would be unsuccessful as there had never been any high rise office towers in the area at the time. The 13 storey Marsland centre was built at the corner of Erb and Albert where the historic Town Hall used to stand and was promised to be a “very fine prestige building... something of great credit to the community”.12 The Marsland Centre has provided office space for local businesses for over 30 years. It is no longer the only high rise in Waterloo, but it will always be the first. It still stands today as a landmark in downtown Waterloo. Marsland was a man of honour and The Marsland Centre is a testament to that. He remarked on construction of the building:
“Mr. Asmussen has been constructing all of the Marsland buildings for 15 years. . . and to prove there is still good faith in this world, there has never been any contract between us – only a handshake.” 12
The cornerstone of the old Town Hall is still on display in the Marsland Centre’s lobby today.
His vision for the Marsland Centre limited has been carried on and today the company owns 8 properties all located in Waterloo. The company is now run by Stanley Marsland’s son Larry Marsland along with two of his grandchildren, Brad and Melanie Marsland. Marsland left a legacy behind him when he retired, one of both entrepreneurial spirit and a sense of community responsibility that his family still carries on today.
1 Koch, Henry. "Marsland Created 988 Jobs in K-W." Marsland Centre Limited. 1977. 4 Oct. 2007 <[1]>. 2 "Marsland Engineering Ltd." Marsland Centre Limited. 4 Oct. 2007 <[2]>. 3 "Stanley Marsland." Waterloo Public Library. 4 Oct. 2007 <[3]>. 4 Above n.1 5 Above n.3 6 Above n.2 7 Above n.1 8 Above n.3 9 Above n.1 10 Above n.2 11 Ibid 12 Above n.3
