James Boylen

Who was James Boylen?

Matthew James "Jim" Boylen was a Canadian businessman and Thoroughbred racehorse owner.

Jim Boylen was born in Weston, Ontario and raised in Alberta. In his early teens he left home and returned to Northern Ontario where he and elder brother Fred eventually operated a trading post. By the time he was twenty years old, Boylen had become a full time prospector and in 1934 established business offices in the city of Toronto. He would be the founder of Brunswick Mining and Smelting Corp. Ltd in Bathurst, New Brunswick, an operation later acquired by Noranda which is now known as Xstrata.

An art collector, in 1959 Boylen was a founding donor to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, donating twenty-two paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff. ' Boylen died at his Toronto home in 1970 and was buried in that city's Mount Pleasant Cemetery.