Ray Fortune

Ray Fortune was a pioneer and champion of maple syrup producers and sustainable forest management in Lanark County and beyond its borders. Ray believed that farmers and forest owners would manage their lands and businesses effectively if they could see what the results of their actions in the forest and sugar camp would be.

Born in Landsdowne Ontario 1932 and raised on a prosperous mixed farm in Junetown, Leeds County, Ray was the fourth generation on the farm and grew up working with horses, steam engines, and tractors. There was a sugar bush on the farm and Ray enjoyed making maple syrup. Ray and his wife Ruth Fortune bought a maple farm in Lanark County in 1972. The maple industry was in the early stages of a transition to new technologies involving pipeline systems, precision instruments for quality control and maple forest management to increase productivity and sustain forest health. Ray was an innovator and early adopter of new technologies in Lanark County. He shared his ideas and experiences freely and was an active member of the Lanark and District Maple Syrup Producer’s Association.

With a focus on his family and sustainable forest management, Ray and his family built Fortune Farms into a demonstration forest where applied research was conducted to assess and develop best management practices in maple forests for syrup production.
Fortune Farms was a partner in the Eastern Ontario Model Forest program and has hosted hundreds of visits from farmers, environmental professionals, students, and policy makers from Canada and around the world to explain the art and science of maple production and demonstrate sustainable forestry.

Ray and Ruth Fortune received the Ross Silversides Award for Outstanding Contributions to Sustainable Forestry in Eastern Ontario in 2003. Ray and Ruth Fortune received the national Forest Stewardship Recognition Award from Wildlife Habitat Canada in 1998 for their efforts to conserve biodiversity and promote private land conservation. Ray received the award of merit from OMSPA in 2009 for his efforts to promote the maple industry through the International Plowing Match. Ray received the Sugar Maker of the Year award in 2009 from the Lanark and District Maple Syrup Producers’ Association.

Outside of maple production, Ray graduated from Queen’s University as an electrical engineer and had a successful career spanning 5 decades working in nuclear engineering, digital switching technology, telecommunications research and marketing. He was awarded an honourary doctoral degree from the University of Alberta and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for his leadership in telecommunications research as the founding President and CEO of TR Labs.

The legacy left by Ray and Fortune Farms extends far beyond the borders of Ontario’s largest maple syrup county, and their efforts into sustainable forests have left a positive impact on the countryside rural Ontario and the landowners that live there.