George Cohon

Who is George Cohon?

George Alan Cohon, OC OOnt is an American-born Canadian businessman who is the founder and senior chairman of McDonald's of Canada and McDonald's of Russia.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, he received a B.Sc. from Drake University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Northwestern University School of Law. He practiced corporate law in Chicago from 1961 through 1967. In 1967 he moved to Toronto, Ontario, as the licensee of McDonald’s Corporation for Eastern Canada. In 1971, he became chairman, president and chief executive officer of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada.

He was involved in opening McDonald’s in the former Soviet Union with the first restaurant opening in Moscow in 1990. The first restaurant was at the time McDonald's biggest, and was opened with minimal involvement from the U.S. parent company, for political reasons. It accepted only Russian rubles, not hard currency, and in the early days, the line to enter the restaurant could be several hours long. Due to Soviet supply shortages, the company created its own supply chain in the Soviet Union, including farms and packaging.