Generalist Lee

Leonard Lee, that is, he being the founder of Leo Valley Tools. Once a bureaucrat with the government of Canada at the Department of Foreign Affairs, he struck out on his own creative enterprise when he got really pissed off at the lack of professionalism and dedication to the cause of assisting small Canadian business ventures, particularly those interested in entering foreign markets. He likely set out to prove something; to himself, that he could and would succeed, and to others, that through sheer determination and hard work excellence is its own victory.

There are those who would take exception to his characterization of the government department and its functionaries that he found so extremely, frustratingly unhelpful, but there aren't many around who would deny that Mr. Lee found his niche and demanding much of himself, he succeeded in offering Canadians an alternative to shoddy workmanship and planned obsolescence in the purchase of good, reliable, and well-made hand tools. It was to his shop that dedicated cabinetry buffs launched themselves for the selection and purchase of quality tools.

Not just for woodworking, but for any kind of work imaginable; Mr. Lee would scour the resource options out there in the great wide world and bring them to his retail outlet from which source an eagerly discriminating public would make their selections and go home happy with the knowledge they had acquired a fine working tool. He had a little bit of everything, from bits and pieces of small kitchen equipment, to fine wood-working tools, to gardening equipment.

I still have the pint-sized (my size) long-handled spade constructed of superior materials to last a lifetime, which I implored my husband to purchase for me, overlooking the stiff price, and it has stood me in good stead for about fifteen years. I've added to that gardening implement since then, and we've never purchased anything from Lee Valley Tools that we haven't had occasion to congratulate our fine discriminating tastes for. In fact, while Lee Valley started out with the intent of providing an alternative for wood-working, it's found in the last several years that its burgeoning gardening selection has gained it its greatest popularity.

Lee Valley does an impressive catalogue-order-sales business now, selling its selections throughout Canada, and having made a greatly-appreciated incursion into the United States market where people there have proven that the ability to recognize and appreciate quality is universal, in their enthusiastic endorsement of his business through their orders. Lee Valley's new (relatively speaking) building, alongside his old one, still used, is a kindly environment where people who make the trip to shop in person generally come across people of like temperament and perception. Those who labour there are friendly, patient, tolerant and knowledgeable, a credit to themselves and the business they represent.

Leonard Lee saw fit to retire from managing the operation, leaving his enterprise in the capable hands of his son in 2003. But he's obviously never lost his sense of curiosity and adventure and his determined search for excellence. Despite having 'retired', he's been busy through the succeeding years with a side enterprise, his 5-year-old medical instruments company, Canica. He has developed, along with assistance of Dr. Michael Bell, a plastic surgeon at the Ottawa Hospital, quite a repertoire of surgical tools, from scalpels to all other manner of operating-room stand-bys.

The latest of Mr. Lee's innovative surgical tools is a surgical extremity fasciotomy system; a bandaging device comprised of hooks and elastics which helps to close severe wounds without the need for skin grafts. "We thought that if we pull wounds apart to operate on them, maybe we can pull them together as well, to close them," said Dr. Bell. Now the U.S. army purchases kits for use at its hospitals, and for use in combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Lee has invested a lot of his own capital in this enterprise, still getting off the ground, not yet realizing a profit.

But sales to the United States have increased by more than 400 percent in the last year alone; 7 military hospitals, as well as other major hospitals like Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts General have picked up wound-closure kits. 70 Civilian hospitals in the U.S. now use the kits, and in Canada, 44 hospitals use them. A study at the Ottawa Hospital suggests using the kits saves about $8,000 a person since hospital stay is reduced and home care is almost eliminated, according to Dr. Bell.

So generalist Lee has been transformed successfully to specialist Lee. And more power to him.