Seymour Schulich
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seymour Schulich (born January 6, 1940) is a Canadian business man and philanthropist.
Born in Montreal, Quebec, he graduated from McGill University with a B.Sc. in 1961 and a M.B.A in 1965. He received a Chartered Financial Analyst degree from the University of Virginia in 1969.
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. 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
Schulich is one of Canada's most astute investors. 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 mid-2004 he purchased 2.5 million units of Canadian Oil Sands Trust at an average price of $44 per unit (at $110 million CAD this was his largest personal holding.) By June 30, 2006 his holding in Canadian Oil Sands was worth $450 million CAD.
He is well known for his philanthropic activities such as his endowment for the Schulich School of Business at York University. More recently, Mr. Schulich has endowed the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry ($25 million) at the University of Western Ontario. The gift was controversial, as many of the School of Medicine's undergraduate students protested 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. As a condition of the gift, the faculty has since been renamed the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, and all of its merchandise and promotional materials must bear Schulich's name (1).
He had made initial efforts to endow the Faculty of Management at his alma mater McGill University. However, this effort did not come to fruition during the time of Bernard Shapiro's presidency at McGill University. In the summer of 2005, Mr. Schulich donated $25 million to the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Calgary, which was met by an equal donation by the Provincial Government of Alberta. The Faculty was renamed The Schulich School of Engineering in honour of his donation. In the fall of 2005, he made a further $20 million donation to the Faculty of Music at McGill University. As a result, it was renamed The Schulich School of Music.
His philanthropy extends to educational institutions in Israel as well. In 2006, Mr. Schulich donated $20 million to the the Technion's - Israel Institute of Technology- chemistry department.
In 1999, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
He is married to Tanna and has two daughters, Deborah and Judith.
A year after donating $20 million to what is now called the Schulich School of Music, businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich has underscored his support of McGill University's music program by offering the Golden Violin, a unique award to encourage and support promising young musicians. The Golden Violin is made of pewter and gold plate and is worth about $100,000, said Schulich, who discovered the unique object in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai while traveling with his wife, Tanna, Catherine Thornhill Steele and her husband, Harry
