The local businessman founded Worthington Industries and worked on a variety of charities but is probably best known as majority owner of the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team.
The Columbus Dispatch reports John McConnell "ran Worthington Industries as if he still wore coveralls." McConnell was known as “Mr. Mac”, with a reputation for plain, honest talk. “It just came natural,” he said in a 1996 interview. “You don’t cheat. You don’t lie. You help your neighbor.”
This is part of the Golden Rule, which McConnell took from his father and used as the philosophy of Worthington Industries, founded in the basement of McConnell's Columbus home in 1955. 50 years later, Worthington Industries has 8,000 employees at 69 locations in 11 countries, operating in steel processing, metal framing and pressure cylinders and generating about $3 billion in annual sales.
Here is a look at the highlights of the life and career of John McConnell:
- Born May 10, 1923, in Pughtown, West Virginia
- Founded Worthington Industries in 1955 after working as a salesman for Weirton Steel. Chairman of Worthington Industries until 1996; retired in 2002.
- Majority owner of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League
- Early investor in the Columbus Crew soccer team
- Minority owner of the Columbus Destroyers football team
- Minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team
- Owner of Double Eagle Golf Club in Galena
- Former chairman of OhioHealth Corp. and benefactor of the McConnell Heart Health Center at Riverside Methodist Hospital
- Director of GMI Engineering and Management Institute of Flint, Michigan.
- Created the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation, a charitable organization
- Wrote the book Our Golden Rule in 2004
- Honors: Recipient of the 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason, the Horatio Alger Award, the National Football Foundation Gold Medal Award, the Ohio Governor's Award and the Mr. Ohio Gold Award; member of the Central Ohio Business Hall of Fame and the Columbus Hall of Fame; winner of Michigan State University Outstanding Alumni award; named Entrepreneur of the Year by Southern Illinois University.
Philanthropist McConnell came a long way from his childhood in Pughtown, where his family home had no electricity or indoor plumbing for most of McConnell's childhood.
McConnell graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in business administration in 1949 and took a sales job with Weirton Steel in Youngstown at first, moving to Columbus in 1954. Steelmakers were then investing in plants geared toward higher production levels and were less interested in the needs of smaller customers. McConnell figured there were a lot people who wanted to buy steel in smaller quantities and specifications, and Worthington Industries was born.
McConnell was diagnosed with cancer last winter and had been using a wheelchair because of problems with his right leg. His wife, Peggy, died in 2005; the couple was married for 59 years. McConnell leaves behind his son, John P. McConnell, a daughter, Margaret, and six grandchildren.
The Dispatch quoted Mayor Michael B. Coleman as saying the city “lost a leader and a city father with the passing of Mr. Mac. He was a great friend, businessman, innovative industrial entrepreneur and generous philanthropist. John’s civic commitment helped build a greater community and made all of our lives better. Our thoughts are with the family today.”
McConnell continued in his illness to follow his Blue Jackets, the NHL team he purchased 10 years ago because he wanted Columbus to have major league sports. McConnell reportedly said he didn't care if he owned the team, as long as Columbus got a major league team. McConnell ended up writing an $80 million check to cover the expansion fee, and the Blue Jackets were part of the NHL's last expansion to date.
McConnell reportedly said it was one of his hopes to see the Blue Jackets in the playoffs, but he did not live to see it happen.
