Born and raised in the Annapolis Valley, Jodrey’s budding entrepreneurial instincts began to show themselves at a very early age. As a schoolboy he built his own water mill to make and sell apple cider and sold blueberries door-to-door - and this was only the beginning.

Although Jodrey left school at the age of 12, he educated himself by reading books on farming, finance and hydropower and enrolled in correspondence courses in mathematics, business and banking.

Never satisfied to do things half-heartedly, Roy Jodrey was a dedicated and hard worker. At the age of 16, he began to work at his father’s orchard. Two years later, he was shipping thousands of barrels of apples to England and later went on to own the orchard.

By the time he was 28, Jodrey had begun his first of many successful ventures - building White Rock’s first water dam at Stiver Falls with his friend Charlie Wright. Three years later, the dam was producing power for the eastern end of the Annapolis Valley and one year after that a pulp mill was added. Jodrey was a smart businessman and when the demand for his service wasn’t large enough, he created a market - going so far as to sell electrical appliances door-to-door.

In 1922, Roy Jodrey and his business partners formed the Avon River Power Company. Five years later, they established the Minas Basin Pulp and Power Co., Ltd. Soon after, he went on to build his own dam on the St. Croix River. Over the next 45 years Jodrey’s empire continued to grow, at one point encompassing 40 companies.

An experienced financier, Jodrey encouraged his family and community members to invest wisely. Following his own advice he had amassed over 100 different stocks at one point, becoming the Canadian with the greatest number of directorships - 56 - many of which were small investment companies of his own.

Although he was as well known in the boardrooms of Toronto as in the orchards of the Gaspereau Valley, Roy Jodrey remained loyal to his native Nova Scotia and was committed to running his businesses successfully from the small towns of the Annapolis Valley. For 14 years Jodrey sat on the Board of Directors at the Bank of Nova Scotia and, although thrifty in business, he gave freely to local churches, universities, and community causes. His generosity didn’t go unnoticed and he was once awarded Annapolis Valley Man of the Year.

Roy Jodrey’s contribution to Canadian business was recognized in April 1987 when he was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. Roy was married and had three children. He died in the summer of 1973 at the age of 84.