{"product_id":"r-t-riley-and-the-riley-families-of-yorkshire-and-winnipeg","title":"R.T. Riley and the Riley families of Yorkshire and Winnipeg","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen  Robert Thomas Riley died peacefully at age 93 in 1944, he left a legacy of philanthropy, community involvement, and business success which succeeding generations of the family in Winnipeg, across Canada and the United States have continued to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHe settled in Hamilton, Ontario in 1873 after arriving from his native England, with $5 in his pocket,” says biographer Paul Kirby, who was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, Riley’s birthplace. “He moved to Winnipeg in 1882 to manage the Manitoba assets of Senator W.E. Sanford.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eR.T. will not be known by many today; but the work he began, and which his family carries on can be found through The Great West Life Assurance Company, The Riley Family Duck Pond at Assiniboine Park, Derek Riley Undergraduate Entrance Bursary and H. Sanford Riley Centre for Canadian History at the University of Manitoba, and Winnipeg Rowing Club’s Riley Boathouse, to name but a few in Canada.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Worcester Polytechnic Institute at Worcester, MA. honours R.T.’s son through the Sanford Riley Hall. Sanford’s son Dr. Conrad Milton Riley identified a rare genetic condition that occurs almost exclusively in Jewish children of Eastern European descent, Riley-Day syndrome. Tindall Riley, a family insurance company, has been operating in London, England since 1855.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHis son Conrad Stephenson (C.S.) Riley would head the ‘Riley Group’ of companies, and serve with distinction in World War One, and help put Winnipeg on the world rowing map. C.S.’s son William Culver Riley was the third generation to head the family companies: he saw action in World War Two; was president of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers; a driving force behind the construction of the Polo Park stadium-arena sports complex; and organized the Pan Am Games for Winnipeg in 1963. Today H.S. ‘Sandy’ Riley, R.T.’s great-grandson continues the family tradition of business and community leadership and philanthropy in Winnipeg.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThese are but four of the many men and women in the Riley family, and the Black (businessman\/author Conrad) and Coyne (journalist Andrew and actor\/writer Susan) branches of the extended tree, who have made their mark in Canada, the United States, and internationally.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eR.T. once said: ‘Give a Yorkshireman the bridle and soon he’ll have the horse’: Robert Thomas Riley and his family—immediate and extended families—have proved this time and again. He was presented with numerous opportunities throughout his personal life and business career and took advantage of them—from using his contacts within the Methodist Church to escort underprivileged children to Canada, though which he met his future wife, and became associated with W.E. Sanford.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHe saw a future in Manitoba (despite his initial misgivings about the weather) and through hard work became one of its history’s most prominent and influential citizens. Not bad for a lad from the small market town in East Yorkshire.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","brand":"None","offers":[{"title":"Kobo eBook","offer_id":46357368766674,"sku":"fc88432a-91e3-3d61-b3ea-84928af37dee","price":13.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0655\/8980\/5233\/files\/image_528e5723-e5b7-4fe6-8aa0-6bceacf1233e.jpg?v=1762879050","url":"https:\/\/www.indigo.ca\/products\/r-t-riley-and-the-riley-families-of-yorkshire-and-winnipeg","provider":"Indigo","version":"1.0","type":"link"}