Penny a ‘business icon’ — remembering Don Penny

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This article was published 29/11/2019 (2319 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Don Penny was a “force to be reckoned” with.

The active community member, co-founder of the accounting company formerly known as Meyers Norris Penny, and a recipient of the Order of Canada, died following a short illness. He was 80 years old.

Family spokesperson and granddaughter Olivia Auriat confirmed Penny died Thursday morning.

“He was always ‘the most.’ He was fearless. He was probably the only grandfather I’ve ever heard of who encouraged his two granddaughters to go backpacking alone. He loved life and he loved adventure and he taught us to do the same,” Auriat said.

“He encouraged us to go and do everything, to try everything, whether it was when people tried scuba diving, just anything you can think of, he would encourage us to go try it — just take a bit out of the apple, whatever it was.”

Penny was fully himself right up until he died, Auriat said.

Sitting at boardroom tables across the country, Penny and his partners at the accounting firm he helped launch in Brandon, now known as MNP LLP, convinced other firms to buy into their business vision.

Born and raised in Virden, Penny joined the Brandon firm Laird Sprague, the predecessor to MNP in 1962, according to a release from the company. He joined the partnership in 1965 and became CEO of Meyers Norris Penny in 1977.

Two years ago, when Penny received Assiniboine Community College’s inaugural Courage Award, he told the Sun that his greatest career accomplishment was earning the support of these other firms.

“I don’t think it was any individual expansion, whether a purchase or a merger; the biggest success was to have people trust me and agree to join in the plans, the vision,” Penny told the Sun in 2017.

“They were the ones who had courage. They’re giving up their own names on the scoreboard typically, and they’re meeting a bunch of people that they kind of like from a social point of view but have never been in business with.”

Penny had a decorated role in turning the Brandon-based accounting firm into a regional giant, with dozens of offices across Canada. MNP has been recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Employers. The company’s logo still hangs at the offices at 1401 Princess Ave.

Starting in Brandon in 1958, it grew to nearly 20 branches on the Prairies by the mid-1990s and now dot the national landscape from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, with more than 4,500 employees.

Penny enjoyed being an accountant, “but I also knew that I didn’t want to be serving clients my whole life … I also wanted to grow our business and find out where we could be.”

He was able to merge his businessman aspirations with the Chartered Accountant designation he received in 1963. He stepped down as CEO in 1998, when MNP was the 10th-largest accounting firm in Canada, with fees of $41 million and more than 400 people on staff. Penny remained chairman of the board for three more years.

Through his decades in Brandon, Penny, who eventually moved to Clear Lake, was part of numerous community endeavours, including the Brandon Economic Development Board, Brandon Chamber of Commerce, YMCA and a member of the Kinsmen Club, among others.

Auriat said her grandfather didn’t come from money, but he felt a “real obligation to help other people.” He encouraged the other partners at MNP to also give back and be as involved with their community as possible.

That charitableness extended into his personal life. Penny loved Christmas, and he played the role of Santa every year, Auriat said. He would dress up in his Santa suit for all his children and grandchildren, as well as at the annual MNP Christmas party.

“Holidays with grandpa were never a halfway affair,” she said.

He also played a leading role in the early years of the Brandon University Foundation and served as chairman for the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants Board of Governors and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba.

Penny was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2006 for his work in the community and business success. He was also the Brandon Chamber of Commerce business person of the year in 1987.

Cathy Snelgrove, president of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce, described Penny as a “business icon” who took the dream of a small local accounting firm and took it national.

“He was always so willing to help anybody whoever wanted to talk a little bit about business or get a little bit of advice,” Snelgrove said. “I think there’s just so many businesses that have been touched a little bit by Don.”

In a written statement, MNP CEO Jason Tuffs credited Penny with putting in place the elements that allowed the firm to grow “rapidly, but gracefully.”

“From its beginnings as a regional accounting firm based in Brandon, Manitoba, to the national firm we have become today, MNP is the firm that was born out of Don Penny’s vision,” he said.

“Don’s warmth and charisma also made him the consummate people person, who was known to lead with both his head and his heart. He brought energy and laughter to every room he walked into and wherever he went,”

According to his wishes, there won’t be a formal funeral for Penny, Auriat said. Instead, she said the family would be spending Thursday night celebrating American Thanksgiving, just like he would have wanted. She said a public celebration of his life is being planned for some time in December.

Penny is remembered by his wife, Sandra, née Cantlon; son Darren (Dianne); daughter Leanne (James); step-daughters Rhonda (Olli) and Karla; grandchildren Olivia Auriat, Sarah and Samantha Penny, and Jackson and Abigail Potter.

“The best way I can describe it is he was just very full force in everything he did,” Auriat said.

“If he did something, he didn’t half-ass it, and I think that will be his legacy: all of us doing the things that scare us and doing it with everything we’ve got.”

» dmay@brandonsun.com

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