The Honourable Michael Wilson ’55 (1937–2019)

“Michael H. Wilson is a distinguished Old Boy who has contributed greatly to his school, community and country,” says Ed Bracht ’55, UCC class president and head of the peer group that nominated Wilson.

“Michael certainly has exemplified the principles and values of the College throughout his life. His father, Harry Wilson ’22, former Chair of the UCC Board of Governors from 1962 to 1967, would have been very proud of him.”

Wilson is chairman of Barclays Capital Canada, a former chairman of UBS Canada and a Companion of the Order of Canada. In the political realm he was, most recently, Canadian ambassador to the United States. He was minister for international trade, minister of industry, science and technology, and minister of finance before that.

After retiring from Washington, he became chancellor at Trinity College and then the University of Toronto. Among many volunteer activities, he’s most closely associated with his outstanding work on the issue of mental illness, with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, as vice-chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and as chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Wilson has honorary degrees from the University of Toronto, York University, Trinity College at the University of Toronto and an honorary doctorate from the Royal Military College of Canada.