Tim Horton was born in Cochrane, Ontario and grew up playing hockey in the small leagues of northern Ontario. He was drafted into the NHL by the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom he played with for seventeen years and with whom he won four Stanley Cups. Horton later played with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. Horton was a steady, if not spectacular, defensman.
Tim Horton invested some of his money with partner Ron Joyce in a coffee and donut shop in Hamilton, Ontario. Horton had little to do with the chain and it was run and expanded by Joyce.
In 1974, while driving from Toronto to Buffalo in a new sportscar, Horton was killed in a car accident. He had been going over a hundred miles per hour and had had been taking pain killers due to a jaw injury. The entire NHL went into mourning, especially the Buffalo Sabres, a franchise which he had played a crucial role in building.
Horton was admitted to the Hockey Hall of Fame, but he is far more well known for the donut company. Tim Hortons, now owned by Wendy's, now has thousands of locations across Canada and is a national institution. There are now over 150 Tim Hortons locations in the United States as well.