File 292 - The Dutchmen Home Builders Ltd.

Ross Vernon Dixon was an entrepreneur and philanthropist in Kitchener, Ontario. He had a career in industrial relations and his entrepreneurial interests included construction and investment businesses. Dixon was born in Toronto in 1914, and attended the Hillcrest Private School (now Hillfield Strathallan College) in Hamilton. During the 1930s, his family moved back to Toronto where his father started a sporting goods business. Dixon worked for his father for almost ten years, during which time he formed a company to manufacture felt crests for sports uniforms and took extension courses in business administration from the University of Toronto. During that time he also met Doris McRae Whiting from Orillia, Ontario, and they were married in 1942.

Dixon began his career in industrial relations in 1940 when he was hired as Assistant Personnel Manager at Research Enterprises Limited in Leaside, Ontario. In 1944, he became Personnel Manager at Otaco Limited in Orillia, Ontario. In 1947 he accepted the position of Industrial Relations Manager for the Dominion Rubber Company, Footwear Division, in Kitchener, and in 1959 he became the Director of Industrial Relations for the company (which eventually became Uniroyal Canada). Throughout his career, he was an active member of the Industrial Accident Prevention Association, serving as president from 1959 to 1960.

Shortly after Ross and Doris moved to Kitchener, he formed the Westmount Construction Company, which built around 150 homes in Kitchener and Waterloo during the 1950s and 1960s in the area surrounding the Westmount Golf and Country Club. Around 1953, he also formed Westmont Enterprises Limited as a holding company for the Westmount Construction Company and several other interests in which he was involved.

Dixon retired from Uniroyal Canada in 1977 and became a local agent for the Morgan Trust Company, and a year later formed Ross Dixon and Associates. In 1990 he sold a majority interest to a holding company and Ross Dixon Financial Services was formed. This company eventually had thirty franchises in Ontario.

Ross and Doris Dixon were active philanthropists in their community, supporting many charitable organizations as well as providing scholarships for students at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo through the Ross and Doris Dixon Charitable Foundation. Ross served as a member of the Board of Governors of Wilfrid Laurier University for eight years. In 2002, Ross and Doris Dixon received honourary degrees (LLD) from Wilfrid Laurier University.