Ken THOMSON obit june 2006
While researching my own THOMSON line i came across several THOMSON obits. I am posting them on the forum for others research. this one is mostly his career rather than family - i hope it helps someone. rj
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Ken Thomson, Canada's richest man, dies
Last Updated: Monday, June 12, 2006 | 12:24 PM ET
CBC News
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Ken Thomson, who transformed the media empire founded by his father and became the richest person in Canada, has died at the age of 82.
Reports say he died at his Toronto office Monday morning. The cause of death was not announced.
Ken Thomson, shown in May, was the ninth richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)Thomson was no longer actively involved in the day-to-day running of Thomson Corp., but remained on the board of directors.
In a statement, son David Thomson said the entire Thomson family was "deeply grateful to my father for his wise stewardship of our family business for more than 30 years."
Steered company in new directions
Thomson became chairman of the Thomson family's business interests in 1976, on the death of his father Roy.
He became chairman of Thomson Corp. in 1978 and held that job until handing over the reins to son David in 2002.
"He was a remarkable man who did so much to build this business by constantly investing in the future," Thomson Corp. CEO Richard Harrington said in a statement.
"He was a strong leader whose energy and enthusiasm for Thomson was contagious. Anyone who met Ken was touched by his grace, charm and humility."
Under Ken Thomson's stewardship, the company headed in new directions.
Over the years, he sold the company's extensive travel, energy, and retail interests (including the Hudson's Bay Company) and, in the 1990s, moved Thomson Corp. out of newspapers and into electronic publishing for the financial, legal, health and scientific communities.
The move turned out to be very profitable. Thomson Corp.'s 2005 revenues came to $8.7 billion US. In the most recent three-month period, it made a profit of $137 million US.
The Thomson family's holding company, Woodbridge Co., owns 40 per cent of Bell Globemedia, the company that owns the Globe and Mail newspaper and the CTV television network.
Ken Thomson once called the Globe the "jewel of the crown" in a media empire that at one time owned hundreds of newspapers in Canada, the United States, Britain and other countries.
Family retains control of corporation
Earlier this year, Forbes magazine estimated the Thomson family's worth at $19.6 billion US.
Most of that wealth came from stock in Thomson Corp. Ken Thomson was the controlling shareholder of Thomson Corp. and owned 70 per cent of the shares. Control of the Thomson Corp. will remain with the Thomson family.
Ken Thomson was an important and generous patron of the arts, donating millions to help build Roy Thomson Hall in downtown Toronto in the early 1980s.
Over the years, Thomson amassed what was considered the finest private art collection in Canada, with highlights including Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens — the most expensive Old Master painting ever sold at auction — and famed works by Canadian superstars such as Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson, Emily Carr and Cornelius Krieghoff.
FROM JUNE 12, 2006: Canada loses great Canadian, arts benefactor in Thomson
In 2002, he stunned the Canadian art world by donating his 2,000-piece collection, worth an estimated $300 million, to the Art Gallery of Ontario along with $50 million to help launch the gallery's massive expansion project and $20 million for its endowment fund.
Thomson was a private and unassuming man who, in Canada, did not use the Lord Thomson of Fleet title he had inherited from his father. "In London, I'm Lord Thomson; in Toronto, I'm Ken," he said in a 1980 interview in Saturday Night.
His parsimony was legendary. From wearing shoes with holes in their soles to flying economy class, he was in some ways a reluctant billionaire who seldom entertained.
He is survived by his wife and three children
More Replies:
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Re: Ken THOMSON -- further family data
R Johnson 10/22/06
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second obit with more family info- KEN THOMSON
R Johnson 10/22/06