Pushing for the Positive: Discouraging words didn’t stop Lou MacEachern from chasing his dreams
By Jennifer Friesen • Photography by Jared Sych
“IT’S ALL OVER IN THIS TOWN, LOUIE. If you weren’t here in 1948, you don’t have a chance.” Those words of welcome greeted Lou MacEachern when he arrived in Calgary in 1952. Then a 19-year-old potato farmer with a Grade 7 education, MacEachern left his farm life in Prince Edward Island and headed to Alberta, only to be told that the boom in Calgary was over. To his credit, he didn’t believe a word of it.
Now, 62 years later, MacEachern leans over his desk at Fortune Industries Ltd. with a wide grin and a gleam in his eye. “I always knew I wanted more,” he says. “I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew that there was more out there — so I pushed.”
And his ambition was not in vain; MacEachern is now one of Calgary’s best-known businessmen and philanthropists. Since launching Servpro Cleaning 50 years ago, he has dedicated his time and wealth to community funds and educational grants including mPower Youth Mentoring, Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Calgary & Area and the Rotary Club of Calgary.
After spending a few years in Alberta working as a carpet-layer, MacEachern decided it was time to finish his education. So at age 22, he headed back to Charlottetown and enrolled in Grade 8. Known as “the old man with the briefcase” by his schoolmates, MacEachern made his way through high school and went on to university to study business.
In 1964, he returned to Calgary. With $700 to his name, he started Servpro by pounding on doors and helping clean up after fires and floods. He eventually turned the company into a respected Calgary institution — Servpro was worth millions of dollars when he sold it 15 years ago.
But business was never MacEachern’s only passion. He began his charity work the same year he started Servpro, serving as a director and volunteer with the Canadian Cancer Society, and he hasn’t stopped since.
Before he even had much money to his name, he was donating everything he could. He explains it simply, by saying that he’s never given away any money that he felt bad about, especially if it nurtures the communities which nurtured him. He sets up funds in honour of people he respects, such as community activist and former broadcaster Barb Higgins, non-profit manager Vicki Kranenburg and Calgary’s Chief of Police, Rick Hanson. By investing in exemplary leaders, he hopes to draw more attention to the impact they’ve made on Calgary.
MacEachern served as a board member with The Calgary Foundation for nine years, helping to fund scholarships, bursaries and other organizations focused on education for young people. It’s a cause that comes naturally to someone who had to learn the value of an education the hard way.
“Getting a degree — now that’s a licence for something,” he says. “Grade 8 isn’t. For a child who grows up without an education, simply because they live in a poor area of town, how much of a licence do they have? It’s not right.”
As the leading supporter of the Friends of UPEI Fund at The Calgary Foundation, he helps students from Alberta and PEI attend the University of PEI by giving annual scholarships. He has also set up scholarships at Bow Valley College and the University of Calgary in the hopes of giving the next generation the chance they need to go to school.
While acknowledging that his charity work has earned respect, MacEachern smiles, adding, “You know, there’s something even better than what I’m doing, and that’s having the ability to do it. That’s even better.”