David Harquail, chair of the Franco Nevada Corporation (left), and Pierre Lassonde, O.C., G.O.Q. recipient of the Edmund C. Bovey Award, which recognized Mr. Lassonde for a lifetime commitment to philanthropy for the arts, at the Business/Arts Awards evening in Toronto at the ROM on Oct. 16.Philip Maglieri/Handout
The organizer: Pierre Lassonde
The pitch: Decades of supporting the arts in Canada
As a child growing up in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., in the 1950s, Pierre Lassonde learned the basics of business from his entrepreneurial father, and developed a passion for philanthropy and art from his mother.
Juliette Lassonde was a journalist and a community activist. “My mother started an organization that helped needy mothers,” recalled Mr. Lassonde the co-founder of Franco-Nevada Corp. FNV-T “She raised money, she collected clothing, all for needy mothers.”
Ms. Lassonde was also an avid collector and lover of art. “We had art all over the house and she had artists for lunch or dinners,” he added.
Mr. Lassonde, 76, took his mother’s example to heart and throughout his long career in mining he donated tens of millions of dollars to various universities. He also chaired the Canada Council and helped transform the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec through a $110-million fundraising campaign.
Last month he was honoured for his many contributions by Business Arts, a Toronto-based charity that champions business investment in the arts.
“One thing that I have recognized from Day 1 is that philanthropy is an awful lot about giving an example,” he said. “Because philanthropy is not inborn, it’s taught.”
Mr. Lassonde said he has also drawn inspiration from his first wife, Claudette MacKay-Lassonde who died in 2000, and his long-time business partner Seymour Schulich, who co-founded Franco-Nevada with Mr. Lassonde in 1983.
It was Ms. Lassonde who focused the couple’s giving on the arts, education and the community, and Mr. Schulich who set an example of generosity by donating around $400-million in total to many causes including hundreds of scholarships at universities in Canada and Israel.
“Seymour is probably the greatest philanthropist in Canada, and being his partner for 30 years, he kind of showed me the way and influenced me and my thinking,” Mr. Lassonde said.
Mr. Lassonde remains passionate about the role business can play in supporting creative talent. “When you think about it, where does capitalism draw its oxygen?” he said. “It’s from innovation, from creation. It’s from the bottomless well of human imagination which is the same as what artists do.”
Paul Waldie