Don Fell
2002 Gallery of Distinction Inductee
An entrepreneur with vision, Don founded FELLFAB Limited, a company that expanded from a home-based business selling truck tarpaulins to become the largest manufacturer of aircraft and rail interiors in North America. With locations in Hamilton, Atlanta and Fort Worth, FELLFAB provides engineered textile products and services to a wide range of customers in the aerospace, aviation, land transportation, materials handling, industrial, military and government sectors.
First launched in Hamilton in 1952, the company soon expanded its market across Canada and Europe and by 1970 its exports reached around the world. FELLFAB bid for and won numerous military contracts, supplying everything from tents to charcoal filter systems for pilots’ helmets. Among its achievements, the company is perhaps best known for providing the advanced insulation for the space shuttle’s Canadarm space arm.
Don has a long history of community involvement. In 1991 he founded Goal 100, a project dedicated to finding jobs for 100 people with disabilities. The initiative met its target, even though it was launched during a time of job loss and recession. Don has been a board member of the Hamilton Community Foundation, Opera Hamilton, Work-Able Services Inc. Hamilton Association of Community Living, Hamilton and District Chamber of Commerce and the Business Advisory Centre of Hamilton-Wentworth. Don is a Past Governor, Junior Achievement of Hamilton.
He is a member of the Board of Governors for the Art Gallery of Hamilton and co-chairs their annual Pegasus Crown fund-raising event. He holds the prestigious Canada Award for Business Excellence “bronze” for Entrepreneurship.
