Businessman, winemaker.
Born at Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Tuscany, Italy in 1936, he came to Canada in 1956 and settled at Virden where he drove a truck to haul water to oil fields. He bought more trucks and began hauling freight and livestock, eventually founding the trucking firm TransX, which became one of the largest privately-owned transportation company in Canada.
On 21 September 1961, he married Lucille Deleau (1939-2022) at Virden and they had two daughters and a son before divorcing. In 1998, he fulfilled a life-long ambition to establish a winery in Tuscany and, in 2004, he and his daughter started a company to market Italian wines in North America. He was inducted into the Manitoba Business Hall of Fame (2017).
He died at Winnipeg on 19 April 2020.
“TransX founder remembers as legendary entrepreneur,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 April 2020.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 25 April 2020.
Obituary [Lucille Tolaini], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 February 2022.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 2 February 2022
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