Steve Stavro

Steve Atanas Stavro, CM (September 27, 1926 – April 24, 2006), born Manoli Stavroff Sholdas, was a Macedonian-Canadian businessman, grocery store magnate, Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder, sports team owner, and a noted philanthropist.

Personal life and Knob Hill Farms

Born in the village of Gabresh, near Kastoria in Greece, Stavro immigrated to Toronto with his family when he was seven years old to join his father, who had come to Canada in 1927. He attended Duke of Connaught Public School, where he was given the name Steve, and Riverdale Collegiate Institute. He worked in his father's grocery store, Louis Meat Market, at Queen Street and Coxwell Avenue and left school after Grade 10 to work full-time.

In 1951, he and his family opened a new store across the street under the Knob Hill Farms name. Stavro said he took the name off a box of produce from California, although Knob Hill was also the name of a community in Scarborough, Ontario. By 1954, he was running his own grocery store at 425 Danforth Avenue while his older brother, Chris Stavro, managed the original store. By the late 1950s, Stavro was operating nine grocery stores and outdoor markets in Toronto. His father was diagnosed with cancer in 1956 and died in 1960.