[1] The mansion that he built in Montreal's Golden Square Mile has been renamed Purvis Hall and is today owned by McGill University.

The financial power of the empire over which he presided earned him the title of "Tobacco King," which he shares with his great rival, Sir William Christopher Macdonald.

He underwrote the entire $420,000 of a new YMHA (see Federation CJA) building, which opened at Mount Royal, near Park Avenue, shortly after his death.

His former residence in the Golden Square Mile (formerly called Sir Mortimer B. Davis House) is now known as Purvis Hall,[5] on the grounds of McGill University.

The litigation was extensive, ultimately being decided in favour of Shaugnessy and Reaper by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, at that time the highest court in the British Empire, including Canada.

His first wife was an active philanthropist and was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur and Commander of the Order of the British Empire.