George D.B. Butterfield (born February 5, 1939) is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

businessperson and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. Born in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

and raised in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as the University of Trinity College) is a University of Toronto#Colleges, federated college of the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Down ...

in 1961 and a Bachelor of Law from

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

in 1965. During his final year at the University of Toronto, he was elected president of the Kappa Alpha Literary Society. A Bermuda citizen as well, he was elected a Rhodes Scholar in Bermuda in 1963 but resigned. Starting his career as a lawyer, along with his wife Martha and her brother Sidney Robinson, he co-founded Butterfield & Robinson in 1966, to offer biking trips for students around Europe. Today, it is a luxury active travel company with about 100 biking, walking, and boating trips in more than two dozen countries. Butterfield & Robinson grew to become one of the best-known specialty travel companies in North America and, by 2009, employed 40 full-time staff and 150 guides. Butterfield retired from the day-to-day operations of Butterfield & Robinson in 2009. A philanthropist, he has worked with the

Ontario College of Art and Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park and Entertainment District neighbourhoods ...

as the chairperson of its capital campaign which raised forty million dollars. The OCAD presented him with an honorary doctorate in 2007. He was also involved with

PEN Canada PEN Canada is one of the 148 centres of PEN International. Founded in 1926, it has a membership of over 1,000 writers and supporters who campaign on behalf of writers around the world who are persecuted, imprisoned and exiled for exercising their r ...

, Canadian Paraplegic Association, and the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

Canada. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

References

* * * 1939 births Living people Businesspeople from Ontario Businesspeople from Saint John, New Brunswick Officers of the Order of Canada Canadian Rhodes Scholars Trinity College (Canada) alumni University of Toronto alumni York University alumni Osgoode Hall Law School alumni {{Canada-business-bio-stub