Robert Young Eaton

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Robert Young Eaton (1875–1956) was a Canadian businessman in the famous Eaton family. He was Timothy Eaton’s nephew and part of Eaton’s department store legacy. He was born to John Eaton and Margaret Herbison, sharing a grandfather with the founder, John Eaton Sr.

In 1922, he took over Eaton’s after his cousin Sir John Craig Eaton died of pneumonia. Sir John’s children were too young to run the company, so Eaton led it and proved to be a capable president, expanding the business tenfold. Lady Eaton, Sir John’s widow, disliked him and called her branch the “owner Eatons” while calling his branch the “worker Eatons.”

When John David Eaton, Sir John’s son, grew up, he became president at age 33, and Robert Young Eaton retired from business life.

Eaton had a resort home named Ireton in Port Credit, Ontario, and later in Georgian Bay. He also served as president of the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1924 to 1941.

He married Hazel Ireland (1889–1965), and they had five children. Their children included:
- John Wallace Eaton (1912–1990), who worked at Eaton’s and ran the Montreal store.
- Captain Erskine Robert Eaton (1915–1942), a Royal Military College of Canada graduate who served in World War II and died in the Dieppe Raid at 27. His name is on the Memorial Arch at the Royal Military College of Canada.
- Colonel Margaret Craig Eaton (1912–1988), who joined the uniformed Red Cross in 1941, later became part of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps. In 1944 she became Director General of the CWAC and was the first in the Corps to reach the rank of Colonel. She received the Order of the British Empire and retired in 1945; she died in England in 1988.