David Trick named Alumnus of the Year
Posted on Wednesday, September 21st, 2022
Every year, Algonquin College celebrates the incredible achievements of its alumni through the Alumni of Distinction Awards. These awards honour the extraordinary contributions our graduates make to the community while achieving career success. Here is a closer look at Alumnus of the Year, David Trick.
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Biochemical Technology, Class of 1970
As a businessman, David Trick measured success by the number of employees he kept employed and the bottom line. And he also measured success by the way he looked after his family.
He is now the chair of a family foundation built on the results of his hard work and good fortune that helps look after others today — and that will, through his six children and nine grandchildren, continue to do so tomorrow.
Trick, who grew up in Ottawa, graduated from Algonquin College in 1970 with a diploma in Biochemical Technology. He started his career as a chemist with Warner-Lambert, maker of Listerine and Bromo Seltzer, and ended it 36 years later as co-owner of one of North America’s largest bar soap manufacturers.
The successful businessman and philanthropist went from plant manager to plant owner in 1993, when he and another manager working at the Andrew Jergens Co. plant in Perth, Ont., bought the factory. Their company, Trillium Health Care Products Inc., produced private-label health and beauty aids for major retailers, and also established the Perth Soap Company.
“When Jergens was going to close the factory, I was in the right place at the right time,” says Trick, adding that his hands-on college education helped get him a job in the factory in the first place.
Trick and his partner grew their workforce from 40 employees in 1993 to 400 employees in two locations by 1998.
That was the year they bought a Brockville pharmaceutical plant owned by Warner-Lambert Co. and started producing prescription and over-the-counter drugs on contract to pharmaceutical companies.
Within 10 years they had $300 million in annual sales and caught the attention of Procter & Gamble Co., a U.S.-based multinational consumer goods corporation. In 2003, they started manufacturing all of P&G’s bar soap for North America, including iconic brands like Oil of Olay, Camay, Zest and Ivory. They also acquired P&G’s historic Ivorydale soapmaking facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, renaming it St. Bernard Soap Co.
Trick was recognized as an EY Entrepreneur of The Year for 2003. He was the Ontario region winner in the manufacturing category.
After selling his company shares and retiring in 2006, Trick turned his attention to the foundation that would be his main philanthropic vehicle and his legacy. He chairs the foundation and his wife, Ann Trick, and the six adult children of their long-blended family sit on the board.
The Dave and Ann Trick Family Foundation board has met once or twice a year since 2007 to agree on what charities, organizations or causes they will support in the current year. They have donated widely, including to the Red Cross to helps victims of the 2016 fire in Fort McMurray, Alta., the Ottawa Hospital Heart Institute, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.
The foundation gave the largest-ever alumni donation to Algonquin College in 2012, for the “Our College, Our Community, Our Future” Perth Campus Campaign. “We give where it’s needed,” Trick explains simply.
In November 2021, the Tricks were honoured with the Association of Fundraising Professionals Outstanding Individual Philanthropist award, in recognition of their support of the CHEO foundation and their ongoing financial commitment to local charitable organizations.
At the awards ceremony, Ann Trick credited her late mother for teaching her that it’s better to give than to receive. Dave Trick credited his wife with their joint success.
“We are a team and stick together through thick and thin,” he says. “It has to be teamwork.”
As a businessman, a philanthropist, a husband and a father, Trick is inspiring, and he has inspiring advice for budding entrepreneurs and college graduates: Believe in yourself. Remember that your integrity is the most important thing. Do to others what you would like done to you. And make sure that you look after your family.
Click here to purchase tickets for the Alumni of Distinction event on Sept. 29, 2022.
Click here to visit the Alumni of Distinction website.