Lou MacEachern Scholarship in Business

Awarded annually to an Alberta student entering first- year Business at UPEI, with preference for a student from the Calgary area. Renewable at $2,000 for study years two, three, and four based on full course load enrolment and academic performance.

Background: Well-known Calgary businessman Lou MacEachern understands more than most the value that education can play. He has had a very successful career and has been very generous to students pursuing education at every level. He realized the necessity of education after he moved to Calgary for the first time in 1952. He grew up in PEI and at a time when boys were expected to work on family farms he quit school in Grade 7 to work. Being an ambitious young man, he left the Island for Calgary and got a job with a retail carpet company. Four years later, MacEachern took stock of his life and decided he would get nowhere without proper schooling. He returned to PEI and enrolled in Grade 8 - alongside kids that called him the old man of the class. Undaunted, he stuck to the books and became a good scholar. While furthering his education, including post-secondary education at St. Dunstan's University and Prince of Wales College, UPEI predecessor institutions, he supported himself with cleaning jobs. He went on to Dalhousie University studying  in the field of commerce. When he returned to Calgary in 1964 started his own cleaning company - Servpro. 

Today, Louis W. MacEachern is president and owner of Fortune Industries Ltd. and a director of Hoodoo Hydrocarbons Ltd., Wellpoint Services, Buckeye Energy Corp., Eagle Plains Resources Ltd., RareMethod Capital Inc., Blueland Resources, and Acacia Capital Corporation. He is a member of the UPEI Board of Governors and an advisor to the University of Calgary, Mount Royal College, and the Salvation Army. As well, he is involved with The Calgary Foundation, The Rotary Club of Calgary, the Naval Museum of Alberta Society, The Duke of Edinburgh's Awards, and the Pinnacle Awards. He has been recognized as an honorary lieutenant-colonel of 14th Calgary Service Battalion and numerous other accolades. He has a huge art collection including PEI artists. While some artwork is rented out on the walls of corporate offices, his big heart is more inclined to loan pieces for free to hospitals and charities. Currently, some 500 of his paintings are appreciated by staff, enjoyed by patients, and provide exposure for the artist. Lou MacEachern was born in Hazel Grove, PEI. He and his wife, Hilda, live in Calgary. They have three children.