Izaak Walton Killam
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Izaak Walton Killam (July 23, 1885 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia – August 5, 1955 in Grand-Cascapedia, Quebec) was one of Canada's most eminent financiers.
Killam rose from paper boy in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to become one of Canada's wealthiest individuals. As a young banker with the Union Bank of Halifax, Killam became close friends with John F. Stairs and Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook) who put Killam in charge of his Royal Securities. In 1919, Killam bought out Aitken and took full control of the company. Killam's business dealings primarily involved the financing of large pulp and paper and hydro-electric projects throughout Canada and Latin America. Killam was believed to be the richest man in Canada at the time.
In 1922 he married Dorothy Brooks Johnston. Notwithstanding his prodigious financial accomplishments, Killam was a very reserved man who eschewed publicity and was virtually unknown outside a small circle of close acquaintances. Killam died in 1955 at his Quebec fishing lodge. By then he was considered to be the richest man in Canada.
Having no children, Killam and his wife devoted the greater part of their wealth to higher education in Canada. The Killam Trusts, established in the Will of Mrs. Killam, are held by five Canadian Universities: the University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Dalhousie University and the Montreal Neurological Institute. Dalhousie University, in Halifax, benefited the most and the library there is known as the Killam. Money also went to establish Izaak Killam Hospital for Children in Halifax and the Montreal Neurological Institute. The current market value of the Killam endowment is approximately $400 million Canadian dollars and it is used to fund research and artistic ventures across Canada.
When Killam died, the government, at his request, used his inheritance taxes, coupled with those of Sir James H. Dunn and a large donation, to establish the Canada Council for the Arts.
[edit] Further reading
- Canada's Mystery Man of High Finance, Douglas How, Hantsport: Lancelot Press, 1986.
- A Very Private Person: The Story of Izaak Walton Killam - and his wife Dorothy, Douglas How: Dalhousie Graphics, 1976
