PROFILE
"He was a gentle man, and a gentleman"
- Sandra Martin
Lord
Kenneth Thomson
(1923-2006)
The Canadian Baron of International Communications
The Ambassadors Research Foundation
When the wealthiest of the world pass away, it is often coupled with some public contempt for how they accumulated their riches along with careful assessment of their legacies from entrepreneurial accountability to philanthropic charity work. This was not the case for the late Canadian media magnet Kenneth Thomson. A man of many accomplishments, Thomson won the respect and admiration of all those who were fortunate to meet or work with him. A humanitarian, thinker and philanthropist of the highest order, Thomson helped revolutionize the contemporary Canadian press industry. In this essay, we pay tribute to him with a brief outline of his long and illustrious life, acknowledging his pioneering contribution to Canadian media, showcasing the public reactions to his untimely death, and displaying a small sample of art from a spectacular collection he accumulated over the years. The Globe and Mail, Canada's distinguished national newspaper published an appreciation issue on his life. In the obituary of the newspaper, Sandra Martin said, "he enriched his country's cultural life and inspired affection in all."
Lord Thomson's Journey
Lord Kenneth Thomson was born in September 1923.At
the tender age of two, Kenneth’s family moved to Ottawa following the collapse
of his father's, Roy Thomson’s auto parts dealerships in Toronto. The family
moved back to Toronto in 1937, where Kenneth attended Upper Canada College, an
elite primary school. He graduated from UAC in 1942 and completed a degree in
economics and law at St. John's College at Cambridge University. He soon
returned to Toronto from the UK to succeed his father as president and
chairman of Thomson newspapers, at the time the company controlled a vast
company comprised of 24 dailies and 8 weekly newspapers in Canada, and 22
dailies and 6 weeklies in the United States.
In 1964, his father gave up his Canadian citizenship in order to receive a hereditary British title from the Queen in the New Year's Honours List. He became the Right Honourable Lord of Fleet of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh. Three years after receiving this honor, his father died of a stroke in August of 1967 thereby transferring assets to Kenneth who became chairman of the family's interests and inherited the title of Lord Thomson of Fleet and Northbridge. He used this title only when he was in the UK, and he never sat in the House of Lords. He famously stated: "In London, I'm Lord Thomson. In Toronto, I am Ken."
This transfer of administration meant that Kenneth would succeed his father as proprietor of The Times newspaper of London in 1975, which the family had owned since 1967. He later sold them to Rupert Murdoch and instead chose to concentrate on his Canadian business, transforming the Toronto Globe and Mail into a major national newspaper. During this period, Kenneth transitioned the Thomson Cooperation from a concentration on advertising based media to electronic databases pitched at lawyers, financial analysts and other professionals.
By the age of 52, he had taken the creaky business he inherited 30 years ago on the death of his father, newspaper baron Roy Thomson, and turned it into something completely different. He was Canada's richest man and largest individual philanthropist by increasing his company's value from US$500 million in 1967 to US$20 billion.
In 1976, Kenneth Thomson posed for a now-famous photo in front of a Toronto
office displaying the logos of all the Thomson newspapers.
Kenneth Thomson most often labeled as a multi-billionaire, art lover and philanthropic, the intensely private Kenneth Thomson, most important for him to be referred as husband, father and grandfather. Kenneth's love of his family and of his art collection were central to his life. He also cared for his favourite 6-years-old fluffy white cotton dog, Skylet.
Before his death, he passed the torch to his son, David, announcing that he would succeed him as the company's chairman in May 2002. All those he worked with over the years, view him as a great father figure. Thomson died on 12 June 2006 after he collapsed in his downtown Toronto office with a heart attack. His untimely death came after a weekend that he spent with his three children - sons David and Peter, and daughter Taylor and just one day before he and his wife were to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
Shortly before his death, Lord Kenneth Thomson was ranked the 9th richest man 2006 by Forbes Magazine, making him the only Canadian in the Top-25 richest people in the world.
Leaders across the continent lament the passing of a titan
The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper mentioned that, "one of the reasons Canada's influence on the world stage has long exceeded our relatively small population is because we have produced so many extraordinary people. Ken Thomson was one of those people. Mr. Thomson saw that the future of information products and services was electronic. Now, when people all over the world need digital products related to education, law, medicine, science and more, they obtain them from the electronic publishing empire Ken Thomson built. The other primary expression of his genius was his art collection. It is fair to say the Thomson collection defines early Canada."
The
former Canadian prime minister, Paul Martin, mentioned, "I consider myself
truly fortunate to have known Ken. For a man who managed an international
media empire (including the Globe and Mail) laid claim to a noble
title. Ken also shard a global vision of the world as one large community. One
of his crowning achievements is how he helped to bring that community closer
together."
Jay Brightman, the marathon organizer mentioned that, "Mr. Thomson's legacy may be that of a titan in the global business landscape, but was also a titan as a gentleman who raised the bar of integrity, honesty and decency."
The Art Gallery of Ontario is deeply saddened by the passage of long-time friend and benefactor Kenneth Thomson. "We at the Art Gallery of Ontario are enormously saddened at the untimely death of Ken Thomson, a great Canadian and the greatest benefactor of the Gallery," said Matthew Teitelbaum, the Michael and Sonja Koerner director, and CEO. "We express our deepest sympathies to the Thomson family." "For the past number of years the Art Gallery of Ontario was privileged to work with Ken to realize a shared dream, of making our institution one of the great cultural centres in North America.
The distinguished Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry, mentioned that "the Art Gallery of Ontario redesign not going to be the same. We will pick ourselves up and make it work for his memory at least, for his family, for the city, for his legacy. He wanted to be very special - he was in on everything. We are going to make it very special."
Lord
Kenneth Thomson was an avid collector, Transformation
AGO’s lead donor and chairman of Woodbridge
Company Ltd. From 1978 to 2002. He chaired the
Publishing and Information Group of Thomson Corporation and in 2002, the AGO
announced his unprecedented gift of $50 million to initiate a transformation
of the AGO and $20 million to endow future operations. Concurrent with his
gift was a spectacular donation of more than 2,000 artworks from the Thomson
collection, including important works by the Group of Seven and the
masterpiece The Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens.
"The Art Gallery of Ontario has always held a special place in my heart, and I am confident that it represents the best opportunity to share my passion for art with the people of this city, Ontario, Canada and the world," Thomson said last year at the public launch of Transformation AGO.
The Art Gallery of Ontario announced a $500
million transformation, including an unprecedented donation of art and funding
by Kenneth Thomson and a physical redesign and expansion led by Frank
Gehry. Matthew Teitelbaum,
the Michael and Sonja Koerner director, and CEO,
join Kenneth Thomson and Frank Gehry for the
announcement made on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 at the AGO in Toronto in the
photo (left).
For the past number of years, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) was privileged to work with Ken Thomson, to realize a shared dream of establishing great cultural institutions in North America, and creating a great home for great art. His passion for international art, helped define his personality. His personal gift to the Art Gallery of Ontario of more than 3000 works of art, including his beloved Krieghoff collection, plus $70 million in cash, enabled the AGO expansion and renovation, designed by Frank Gehry, which will open in 2008. The Morning After a Merrymaking in Lower Canada by Cornelius Krieghoff (1857), was the first Thomson painting to grace a Christmas Eve cover of the Globe and Mail in 1995. He was also a collector of ivory and boxwood carvings, detailed ship models and other unique objects.
The five most valuable paintings owned by Ken Thomson, which will hang in the AGO in Toronto are: The Massacre of the Innocents (1611-1612) by Peter Paul Rubens; Scene in the Northwest - Portrait (1845-1846) by Paul Kane; Baffin Island (1930) by Lawren Harris; Effet de neige (1906) by J.W. Morrice; and The Bird Shop, St. Lawrence St. (1920) by Maurice Cullen.
