Don McLean, the epicenter of Toronto’s commercial production industry and head of The Partners’ Film Company for more than two decades, died on July 12 amid complications from heart bypass surgery. He was 72.

McLean’s career spanned nearly half a century in the film and television industry, much of which he spent as president and executive director of the landmark Partners’.

‘He’s touched most of the people in the city,’ says son and Partners’ acting president Ross McLean. ‘The majority of the people working in the commercial industry got their start through him. Either he started them as employees or he started their companies.’

The Brampton, ON, native started in film and television production at age 24 in 1957, but began to build his legacy as a television commercial giant in 1978, when he and six others joined forces to form Partners’, Canada’s oldest and largest commercial production company.

Partners’ boomed in the 1980s, and it and its subsidiaries went on to foster a wealth of young talent, including filmmaker Bronwen Hughes and commercial and music video director Floria Sigismondi. The company played an integral role in launching smaller production companies including Toronto’s Jolly Roger, Bedlam Films and Revolver Films. Partners’ produced memorable commercials such as Labatt’s ‘Out of the Blue’ campaign and the post-9/11 spot ‘Canada Loves New York.’

In 1988, Partners’ was bought by John Labatt Ltd. to add to its entertainment production branch Supercorp. McLean began talks in 1993 to repurchase Partners’, and after two years of on-again, off-again negotiations, he succeeded.

Despite his tough approach to conducting business, he also proved big-hearted, holding Partners’ lavish Christmas parties for kids, complete with merry-go-round and petting zoo.

McLean toyed with the idea of retiring in 2004, but it never happened. He remained the head of Partners’ until the day before his bypass surgery.

‘They always called him ‘The Don,’ and that’s what he was in this industry,’ says his son, recalling his father’s impact on the Canadian commercial industry. ‘Everyone in the city knows that there was never anyone as big as him and there never will be again.’