Born George Washington Kendall, Kennedy bought the Canadiens from J. Ambrose O'Brien for $7,500 on November 12, 1910, turning a first-season profit of $4,000 — the best in the league. He built the club into the Canadiens' first Stanley Cup championship in 1916 and was instrumental in founding the NHL itself in 1917. Kennedy's health was reportedly weakened after he contracted the Spanish flu at the 1919 Stanley Cup Final — the only Final in NHL history cancelled due to an epidemic — and he died in 1921; his widow sold the club that November for $11,000 to the group led by Léo Dandurand and Joseph Cattarinich.