Vic Alumnus David Wilson Receives Honorary Degree

^{Photos by Neil Gaikwad}

By Leslie Shepherd 

Fifty-seven years ago, Victoria College student David Wilson went to Convocation Hall to receive his Bachelor of Commerce degree.
 
He returned to the same stage on Friday, June 20, to receive an honorary degree in recognition of his service to the University of Toronto as a transformational and dedicated volunteer. 

In the audience then and now were his wife Shelagh (his girlfriend back in 1968), his sister Ann Wilson Vic 7T0 and her husband Robert Pritchard, the 13th president of U of T. 

For Wilson, campaign co-chair of Defy Gravity—The Campaign for Victoria University, the honorary degree was not only a matter of personal pride, but a recognition of his family’s deep roots at U of T – and especially Vic. 

“The U of T has played an immensely important role in my family history,” Wilson said at the convocation ceremony for U of T commerce grads. “If it weren’t for the U of T, I wouldn’t be standing here addressing you today. In fact, I wouldn’t be standing anywhere!” 

That’s because his parents met at the Victoria University library in 1940. His mother, Margaret, was studying English and counted Northrop Frye among her professors (“she loved him.”) His father, William, studied commerce and finance. They graduated and married in 1941. David was born four years later, followed by his brother Kenneth and sister Ann.  

One of David’s strongest memories of Vic is the hours he and his brother spent in the library where their parents met, trying to boost their grades after David convinced Kenneth, a U of T pre-med student, to pledge to a fraternity.  

“My brother’s grades suffered, and I felt responsible,” David said. Every Monday to Thursday, they would have dinner at the fraternity and then study in the library until 11 p.m. before taking the subway home. Kenneth got into medical school and went on to become a pediatric plastic surgeon and receive the Order of Canada, and “his big brother got over his guilt.” 

After earning his Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1968, David Wilson had a distinguished career in banking and the financial services industry. He was vice-chair of Scotiabank and chair of the Ontario Securities Commission. 

His honorary degree recognizes his volunteer work for the University of Toronto, where he served on the Governing Council and the Business Board and was chair of the Presidential Search Committee that selected Meric Gertler as the university’s 16th president. He is co-chair of the campaign cabinet for Victoria University, part of U of T’s Defy Gravity campaign. 

Wilson also volunteered at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for 14 years. He joined the CAMH board in 2011 and chaired it from 2017 to 2020. He now serves on the board of the CAMH Foundation. 

David and his sister Ann, a lawyer who spent most of her career with the Ontario government, are also generous donors to Vic. 

In 2004, they established The William and Margaret Wilson Bursary for Vic One students in financial need, named after their parents. In 2005, they created the David and Ann Wilson Professorship in Public Policy and Society in the Lester B. Pearson Stream in the Vic One program. The Vic One program, launched in 2003, features small group seminars, lectures, tutorials and informal conversations enriched by weekly plenary sessions with guest professors, visiting artists, writers, ambassadors and other public figures.  

Recently, the siblings pledged to contribute to Vic’s new VOLT (Victoria Opportunity for Leaders for Tomorrow) Scholars program to help Black, Indigenous and-or racialized students achieve excellence in STEM and other subjects. He said the program appealed to both of them because of the values they learned from both of their parents. 

“Our mother was always very interested in immigrants and new Canadians,” he said in an interview. “When she got older, we gave her taxi receipts to come visit us. She would talk to the taxi drivers about why they came to Canada, and then she would tell us about their stories over dinner. VOLT has that element, diverse students, coming to Vic.” 

At the Commerce convocation, Wilson reflected on the satisfaction he found after leaving the corporate world to chair the Ontario Securities Commission. He urged graduates to dedicate part of their careers to the not-for-profit sector—whether in government, health care, education or community service. 

“You would be amazed at the satisfaction that you get working in the not-for-profit sector,” he said. “The commercial world is relatively uncomplicated. All roads lead to the return on capital. In the not-for-profit world, setting priorities, creating and implementing solutions and then measuring results is vastly more complex.”  

“My strong recommendation is that you try to find some time in your busy future careers to serve in the non-commercial world. You have the skills to make a big impact. And you will find it very rewarding.”