John Arnold Tory (March 7, 1930 – April 3, 2011) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer and corporate executive.

Early life and education

Tory was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, to Kathreen Jean Arnold Tory ( Arnold) and John S. D. Tory, a lawyer who founded

Torys Torys LLP is a Canadian international corporate law firm with offices in Toronto, Calgary, New York, Montreal and Halifax. The firm acts for a wide range of commercial clients and financial institutions in Canada, the United States, and globall ...

. He had an older sister, Virginia, and a fraternal twin brother, James Marshall Tory. Tory, along with his brother, James, graduated from the

University of Toronto Schools University of Toronto Schools (UTS) is an independent secondary day school affiliated with the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school follows a specialized academic curriculum, and admission is determined by competitive ex ...

in 1946 at the age of 16. Their father sent them to

Phillips Academy Andover ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

, where they studied for two years before enrolling at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

. They were undergraduate students for two years before they switched streams to attend the

University of Toronto Faculty of Law The University of Toronto Faculty of Law (U of T Law, UToronto Law) is the law school of the University of Toronto. The Faculty's admissions process is the most selective of law schools in Canada and is one of the most selective in North America. ...

in 1949. They graduated in 1952 and completed two years of additional training at

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is named for William Osgood ...

, and with his brother, they joined their father’s firm at the age of 24.

Career

Together with his twin brother James Marshall Tory, he entered the practice of law in 1953, later founding the firm of Tory, Tory, Deslauriers (now

Torys LLP Torys LLP is a Canadian international corporate law firm with offices in Toronto, Calgary, New York, Montreal and Halifax. The firm acts for a wide range of commercial clients and financial institutions in Canada, the United States, and glob ...

) and was appointed a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1965. After successfully guiding the build-up of Torys, John ceased practising law in 1974 and began working full-time for the Thomson family, first under founder Roy Thomson and then, following Roy's death in 1976, for his son Kenneth, eventually becoming President of the family's principal holding company,

The Woodbridge Company The Woodbridge Company Limited is a Canadian private holding company based in Toronto, Ontario. It is the primary investment vehicle for members of the family of the late Roy Thomson, the first Baron Thomson of Fleet. David Binet has been the ...

Limited. Until his death he was the president of Thomson Investments Limited. John was a friend and financial advisor of the late media magnate

Kenneth Thomson Kenneth Roy Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet (September 1, 1923 – June 12, 2006), known in Canada as Ken Thomson, was a Canadian/British businessman and art collector. At the time of his death, he was listed by ''Forbes'' as the richest per ...

for fifty years and continued until his death to serve on the board of

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

, company formed by the merger of Thomson Corporation with international news service Reuters. The ''

Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it f ...

'' described him as the "sage

consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel '' The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a ...

to the Thomson family." He was a close friend of the late media magnate Ted Rogers and served on the board of directors of

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

since 1979. Tory was also a friend to

Joseph S. Atkinson Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

publisher. Despite their political positions (Tory had ties to Conservatives and Atkinson with the Liberal Party). Atkinson appointed Tory and his brother James, to be Executors of his Will along with five others.

Personal life

Tory married Elizabeth (Liz) Bacon, a nurse, on May 15, 1953. They had four children: John H. Tory (born 1954), Jennifer (born 1955), Jeffrey (born 1960) and Michael (born 1961). His son,

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 200 ...

, is the former

mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

and former

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

leader. Elizabeth's mother, Helen Yvonne Solomon, was born in 1909 to a Russian Jewish family that had emigrated to Canada six years earlier and settled in Toronto. Her father, Howard English Bacon, was a member of the Anglican Church of Canada and she was raised a Christian.

Death

Tory suffered a stroke on April 1, 2011, while at his Florida home and died on April 3, 2011, at the age of 81.

References

External links

Rogers Communications Inc Board of Directors Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tory, John A. Businesspeople from Toronto Lawyers in Ontario Canadian King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Rogers Communications University of Toronto Faculty of Law alumni John A. 1930 births 2011 deaths Canadian twins Phillips Academy alumni Canadian business executives 20th-century Canadian businesspeople Osgoode Hall Law School alumni