BIZZ BUZZ

Prominent Hamilton corporate lawyer Ed Shaker was especially interested in watching the returns come in during the U.S. presidential election earlier this month. That's because his first cousin was a candidate -- consumer advocate and environmentalist Ralph Nader, who ran as an independent. Ed's mother and Ralph's mother were sisters.

Nader has been a candidate in U.S. presidential elections since 1996, and was considered by some Democrats to have cost Al Gore the presidency against George W. Bush in 2000. Nader received nearly 700,000 votes in the 2008 election. Ed regularly speaks with his cousin and plans to visit with him in the next few weeks.

"He was disappointed that he was not a participant in the presidential debates and could not bring forward his views on the American political system," Shaker says.

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Another well-known corporate lawyer, Tom Hickey, will retire next month, bringing to an end the 73-year prominence of the Hickey name in Hamilton's legal community. Tom's father, Del, was the original Hickey of the Lazier Hickey law firm, having practiced from 1935 until 1992.

Tom is a past chairman of The Hamilton Club, an honorary governor of the Tamahaac Club, and director of the Caledon Mountain Trout Club. After his retirement from the practice of law, he will continue his work as a director of the Reliable Life Insurance and Old Republic Insurance companies, and plans to visit his children in British Columbia and London, England, and travel the world.

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The Little Green Tree publishing house, owned by Hamilton photographer Daniel Banko, has been awarded the contract to produce Panorama, the magazine of the Hamilton and District Chamber of Commerce. Panorama is published quarterly, but according to chamber CEO John Dolbec, plans are to publish bi-monthly, expand the circulation beyond the chamber membership and expand the content.

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MacGillivray Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors celebrated its 75th anniversary by holding a special reception for clients and friends recently at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

The MacGillivray team was one of those instrumental in beginning the renaissance of downtown Hamilton when the firm's staff moved into their new building at the corner of Main and Hughson streets in 2005. Since then the company's growth has been explosive to the point where the new facility is already overcrowded. "We've grown more than 40 per cent, we're five years ahead of where we'd hoped to be by this point and we're bursting at the seams," says partner Lou Celli. "But we're not complaining. It's a nice problem to have."

Tricia Hellingman is president of Hellingman Communications, a Hamilton-based public relations and marketing agency. You can e-mail her at thellingman@hellingman.com. Bizz Buzz appears every other Friday.