Robert Gratton

In 1971, he joined Crédit foncier franco-canadien in Montreal. In 1975, Gratton was appointed co-general manager, then executive vice-president in 1976, and was elected to the board of directors in 1977. In early 1979, Credit foncier was taken over by the Banque d'épargne, whose president was Gratton's father-in-law, André Marcil. That April, Marcil joined the Credit foncier board.^[4] The following month, aged 35, Gratton was appointed president of the company.^[5]

In December 1981, it was announced that Gratton would become president and chairman of the Montreal Trust Company. Gratton succeeded Paul Britton Paine in the roles at Montreal Trust, while he was succeeded at Crédit foncier by Raymond Garneau.^[6] Gratton had been recruited to Montreal Trust by Paul Desmarais of Power Corporation, the trust company's controlling shareholder, to improve its mediocre earnings. Gratton arranged a series of board meetings where he presented his business plan. The plan sought to grow the company's retail deposit business, which in effect brought the company into banking. Gratton initiated a complete restructuring of the company that divided its operations into two companies: one dealing with consumers and one with corporate clients. He also replaced most senior executives with new people brought in from banks. After a year and a half, Gratton's plan was mostly executed.^[7]

In the spring of 1989, Power Financial sold its 63.8 stake in Montreal Trust to BCE for $875 million.^[8] Gratton left Montreal Trust on 31 July 1989, and that fall became president of Power Financial.^[9] In May 2005, Gratton was elected chairman of Power Financial and was replaced as president by R. Jeffery Orr.^[10] Gratton remained chairman until the company's annual meeting in May 2008, when he stepped down and was appointed deputy chairman.^[11] During Gratton's tenure with Power, the company's value increased from $1.8 billion in 1992 to $28.7 billion in 2007, and its earnings grew 15 fold. Accordingly, Gratton had become one of the wealthiest men in Canada, with an estimated net value in November 2007 of $662 million.^[12] At Power Financial's annual meeting on 14 May 2014, the first to be held since Paul Desmarais's death, Gratton retired from the board of directors.^[13]

Gratton was for many years one of the highest-paid executives in the country. In 1997, he was the highest compensated, earning $27,395,123.^[14] In early 2004, Gratton made $170 million from stock options, which was one of the largest personal gains in Canadian history. On 14 January he exercised 439,000 options worth $18 million, and on 11 February he exercised 3.44 million options worth $152 million.^[15]

On 27 August 1966 at Saint-Viateur d'Outremont, Gratton married Nicole Marcil (1943–2018). The wedding was officiated by Jacques Laramée, who was Nicole's cousin.^[16] Nicole was the daughter of André Marcil (1910–1983) and Thérèse Beauchamp (1911–2016). André Marcil was a prominent Montreal financier who had served as chairman of the Banque d'épargne and as vice-chairman of Crédit foncier franco-canadien.^[17] During the war, André served as a naval officer and had been a liaison officer with Charles de Gaulle in the Battle of Dakar.^[18] André's father was Georges Marcil (1868–1926) who had founded the Marcil Trust Company, which was acquired by RBC Dominion Securities in 1990. Georges had been the last mayor of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce before it was annexed into Montreal.^[19]

Robert and Nicole had three children: Sophie, François, and Élisabeth. François is an executive vice-president of Telus. In 2003, Gratton purchased "Belmere," the former country estate of Sir Hugh Allan on Lake Memphremagog, from the Allan family. After he acquired the estate, he built a new house and gardens.^[20]