Mr. Ogilvie was the first to introduce into Canada the patent process of grinding by rollers. In 1868, he visited Hungary where this system originated, for the purpose of investigating it. He saw at once its value and adopted it. He invented improved machinery used in the milling business, and was always ready to adopt the improvements of others that were practical.
It was said that he had better knowledge of wheat and wheat lands than any man in Canada. His business furnished a market for wheat growers and proved a stimulating influence in the agricultural development of the great wheat-raising section of middle and western Canada. His labors were directly responsible for much of the growth, progress and prosperity of Manitoba and the provinces farther west, and his worth as a business man and citizen was acknowledged by all.
Mr. Ogilvie’s identification with commercial interests was large and diversified. He was a director of the Bank of Montreal; the Montreal Transportation Company; the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company; the Old Dominion Board of Trade; and the Sailors Institute. He was president of the Corn Exchange Association; St. Andrew’s Society; and the Montreal Horticultural Society; governor of the Montreal General and the Royal Victoria Hospitals; president of the Manufacturers’ Association, and served as a member of the Harbor Board.
In regard to agricultural and horticultural interests he manifested an interest and enthusiasm that were contagious, his efforts constituting an example that many others followed. He served both on the council and board of arbitration of the Montreal Board of Trade and was president of that body in 1893-4. In matters of citizenship he was extremely public-spirited and what he accomplished represented the fit utilization of his innate talents and powers. His political belief is indicated in the fact that in 1896 he was president of the Liberal Conservative Club of Montreal. He was a forceful speaker in both French and English and frequently, in his earlier days, addressed public meetings during political campaigns.
As a young man he served as lieutenant and subsequently as a captain in the Montreal Cavalry under his brother, being thanked in brigade orders by Colonel Pakenham in 1866.
He was one of the prominent members of St. Andrew’s church. Mr. Ogilvie always gave with a free hand toward various public institutions, and there was no movement of importance to which he did not contribute. His benefactions were liberal, varied and by no means local. He gave thirteen thousand dollars, towards making up a deficit for completion of the Jubilee wing of the Winnipeg General Hospital. He was one of the first to subscribe to the patriotic fund for the families of those who went with the Canadian contingent to the Transvaal war. Mr. Ogilvie was a man of great business capacity and to a most remarkable extent maintained a personal knowledge of his diversified interests.
His death on January 12, 1900, was very sudden. He had been at his office attending to business as usual, after which he attended a directors’ meeting of the Bank of Montreal. On his way home he was taken ill and passed away soon after reaching there.
Many of the leading mercantile houses and public offices flew their flags at half mast through respect for him. The Montreal Gazette at time of his death, said on January 13, 1900, editorially:
“It is long since any event caused such a painful shock in Montreal as did the death yesterday of W. W. Ogilvie. Strong in body, clear in mind, actively interested in the details of great concerns, he was one of the last whose taking away would be thought of. His loss will be felt the more because of its suddenness and it is a great loss, to the city’s commercial life. Mr. Ogilvie’s business intelligence and energy long ago raised him to a place not among Canada’s alone, but among the world’s great merchants.
“It was a just pride that he felt in directing the greatest milling interest in the world under one man’s control; and the pride was more than personal. He early saw what the northwest meant to Canada, both commercially and nationally, and it was a pleasure to him to feel that as his business spread it was making known the resources of the country, in all of whose affairs he took the deepest interest.