Flaherty, James J., 1890-1979

Businessman and civic leader, of Great Falls, Mont.; co-founded Great Falls Paper Company in 1931; involved with the efforts of farmers and ranchers in the Great Falls area to get all access roads paved.

James J. Flaherty, Sr., was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on March 23, 1890 and graduated from LaSalle Institute. He came to Montana in 1913 and co-founded the Great Falls Paper Company with his brothers in March 1931. He married Sibyl Elsie Fogarty of Chinook in 1919; she died in 1971. At the time of his death, Mr. Flaherty was Chairman of the Board of the company. He died on November 11, 1979, at the age of 89.

Mr. Flaherty was a community leader and a long-time booster of Great Falls. He was active in civic and political (Democratic) affairs locally and statewide. He maintained a personal relationship with such known Montana politicians as James Murray, Burton K. Wheeler, Wellington Rankin, Mike Mansfield, and Lee Metcalf.

He served as President of the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce in 1939 and President of the Montana Chamber of Commerce in 1946, 1947, and 1948. In 1971 and 1972, Mr. Flaherty was associated with farmers and ranchers in an effort to get all-access roads paved in the Triangle Area near Great Falls. These roads were being used for the construction of the Safeguard system which contained Minuteman missiles. For many years he was Chairman of both the Canadian Relations Committee and the Military Affairs Committee for the local chamber. He was a Life Member of both the Lethbridge and Calgary Chambers of Commerce.

Mr. Flaherty was regarded by many as Montana's unofficial ambassador to Alberta and was an Honorary Chief of the Blood Indian Tribe, known as the Kainai Chieftainship, (Blackfoot Confederacy) in Cardston, Alberta. He was Past Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus and a member of the St. Gerard Church