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Thomas John Bata, CC, shoe manufacturer, philanthropist (born 17 September 1914 in Prague, Austria-Hungary; died 1 September 2008 in Toronto, ON). Thomas J. Bata established the Bata shoe company in Canada. He was designated a Companion of the Order of Canada and recognized “for his contribution to industrial development.”
Thomas J. Bata
Thomas J. Bata, shoe manufacturer, c. 1971.
(photo by Reg Innell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Career Highlights
Thomas J. Bata was the son of Thomas Bata, the owner of a shoe manufacturing company. Thomas J. Bata began his career as apprentice in his father's factory in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, in 1929. In 1935 he went to England as assistant general manager of British Bata Shoe Co. He came to Canada in 1939 and built a new plant at Batawa, Ontario. At that time the company was established in more than 30 countries.
In 1985 the company manufactured in 61 countries and made a million pairs of shoes a day. The company operated 92 plants and 6,000 retail stores, and sold through 100,000 merchants in 115 countries.
Bata was chairman of Bata Ltd, an adviser for the UN Centre on Transnational Corporations, chairman of a number of international economic organizations and honorary governor of Trent University.
Honours and Awards
- Companion, Order of Canada (1971)
