Seymour Schulich

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Seymour Schulich bigraphy, stories - Canadian businessman

Seymour Schulich : biography

06 January 1940 –

Seymour Schulich, OC (born January 6, 1940 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian businessman, investor, author and philanthropist.

Partial bibliography

  • Schulich, Seymour. Get Smarter Life and Business Lessons. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2007. ISBN 978-1-55263-942-9
  • Schulich, Seymour. Weather Gas Distribution Companies and Stock Markets ( a Theory for Short Term Traders.) –. S.l: s.n.], 1965.

Biography

Schulich graduated from McGill University with a B.Sc. in 1961 and an MBA in 1965. He earned a Chartered Financial Analyst designation through the University of Virginia in 1969.

He is married to Tanna and they live in Willowdale, Ontario. They have 2 daughters and are grandparents to Jade and Solomon.

Honours

  • 2013, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, Dalhousie University
  • 2011, Officer of the Order of Canada "for his transformational philanthropy in support of our education and health care institutions".
  • 2010, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, University of Calgary
  • 2008, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, University of Western Ontario
  • 2004, Honorary Doctorate, McGill University
  • 2003, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, York University
  • 1999, Member of the Order of Canada
  • 1998, "Developer of the Year" by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada
  • 1997, with Pierre Lassonde, named "Mining Man of the Year" by The Northern Miner

Philanthropy

Schulich is well known for his philanthropic activities, having donated funds to numerous Canadian universities including York (Schulich School of Business), Western Ontario (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry), Calgary (Schulich School of Engineering), Dalhousie (Schulich School of Law), McGill (Schulich School of Music), and Nipissing (Schulich School of Education). The first and largest donation that was made was to the Schulich School of Business at York University. All degrees issued by the Schulich School of Business now bear the signature of Seymour Schulich. His philanthropy also extends beyond universities, to the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Schulich Heart Centre) in Toronto, and outside Canada to the University of Nevada, Reno and Technion (Israel Institute of Technology).

Some of Schulich’s gifts have been met with controversy from the student bodies of the recipient institutions. His $25 million endowment to the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario was protested by many of the School of Medicine’s undergraduate students for both the source of the funds and the manner in which the faculty administration finalized the deal. Some students contended that unethical practices by some of Schulich’s companies, such as Newmont Mining, made the conditions attached to the gift unacceptable. For similar reasons, Schulich’s initial effort to endow the Faculty of Management at McGill University did not come to fruition during the time of Bernard Shapiro’s principalship at McGill. However, during this time, he did give generously to McGill’s Library of Science and Engineering which was renamed the Schulich Library of Science and Engineering in honour of his family in 2001. He was finally able to endow the Schulich School of Music under the principalship of Heather Munroe-Blum.

On October 15, 2009, Schulich officially presented a donation in the amount of $20 million to Dalhousie University’s Law School; in doing so, the Law School has now been renamed the Schulich School of Law.

On October 14, 2011, Schulich announced a $100 million scholarship program targeting students entering the science, technology, engineering and math fields in Canada and Israel. This gift is being carried out by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

Career

His first job was at Shell Oil Company. From 1968 to 1990, he worked at Beutel, Goodman & Company Ltd., a pension fund management company which manages in excess of $10.6 billion CAD (as of 2003), becoming president and Vice-Chairman.

In 1978, Schulich, along with partner Pierre Lassonde, helped pioneer the concept of royalty payments in the mining industry: their Franco-Nevada and Euro-Nevada companies never discovered an ounce of precious minerals, but their royalty arrangements allowed them to gain ownership stakes in some of the world’s most profitable mines. A $1,000 investment in Franco-Nevada’s stock in 1983 was worth $1.2 million in 2002, equivalent to a 40% average annual rate of return. In 2002, Franco-Nevada merged with Normandy Mining Limited of Australia and Newmont Mining Corporation, creating the largest gold mining company in the world, Newmont Mining Corporation. Schulich is Director of Newmont Mining and Chairman of its merchant banking division

In 2007, Schulich published a book titled Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons.