The Royal Group history

The man behind the birth of Royal was Vic De Zen, a man of Dutch heritage who was born in 1941 in a small town near Venice, Italy.

According to a story that has become company lore, De Zen got off the plane in Toronto at five in the evening in November 1962 and within the hour was installing television antennas with his brothers who had set up a business installing storm windows, storm doors, and antennas.

Infuriated, De Zen decided to launch his own business, but not before returning to Europe for a year in 1969 to learn the latest developments in the making of dies for vinyl extrusion.

1973: The company begins exporting to the United States.

In 1989, for example, Royal tried to buy 35 percent of publicly traded Quebec-based Plastibec Ltd., maker of custom profiles, for $2.20 a share.

By the 1990’s Royal had acquired several other locations in the mid-western United States and celebrated its 75th anniversary.

1991: The first plastic house is constructed.

At the end of 1996 Royal bought out Rubbermaid's share of the business.

A year later it cracked CAD 1 billion in annual sales and approached CAD 1.3 billion in 1999.

No doubt feeling the pressure, De Zen announced his retirement in November 2003, although he retained 80 percent of the voting rights.

In November 2004 De Zen as well as CEO Douglas Dunsmuir and CFO Ron Groegan were ousted.