John Trevor Eyton, (July 12, 1934 – February 24, 2019) 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 ...

businessman, lawyer, and

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

Life and career

Eyton was born in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

in 1934 and was educated and raised in Quebec and

Toronto, Ontario 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 ancho ...

. He was educated at Beaupré Public School and

Jarvis Collegiate Institute Jarvis Collegiate Institute is a high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is named after Jarvis Street where it is located. It is a part of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Prior to 1998, it was within the Toronto Board of Education ...

. In 1957 he received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from the

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

, and earned his

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of ...

from the

University of Toronto Law School 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 1960. After completing his studies, Eyton joined the law firm of Tory Tory DesLauriers & Binnington, where he remained until 1979 when he left to become president and chief executive officer of

Brascan Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It focuses on direct contro ...

Limited, a post he held for 12 years. Eyton remained with Brascan as chairman and senior chairman until 1997 and served on its board of directors. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1991 by

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political ...

Eyton was a board member of a number of corporations, including

Coca-Cola Enterprises Coca-Cola Enterprises was a marketer, producer, and distributor of Coca-Cola products. It was formerly the anchor bottler for Western Europe and most of North America. Coca-Cola Enterprises' products included Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero ...

(Atlanta),

General Motors of Canada General Motors of Canada Company (french: La Compagnie General Motors du Canada), commonly known as GM Canada, is the Canadian subsidiary of US-based company General Motors. It is headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. In the aftermath of ...

Noranda Noranda may refer to: *Noranda (mining company) *Noranda Caldera, an Archean caldera in Canada *Noranda, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth *Noranda, Quebec, a former city in Canada: see Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda ( 2021 population 42,313) is ...

, Nestle Canada and Coretec, and served as Chairman and a director of Ivernia West. He was involved in amateur sport and philanthropic organizations including Junior Achievement, the Canadian Olympic Foundation and is Chairman of

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

. Senator Eyton is a member of the

Canadian Journalism Foundation Founded in 1990, The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) is a non-profit organization that promotes Canadian journalism by celebrating journalistic achievement through an annual awards program; by operating journalism websites, J-Source.ca (Eng ...

, the

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions. It was founded in 1982 and is s ...

, and the Advisory Committee of the

Toronto Zoo The Toronto Zoo is a zoo located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Encompassing , the Toronto Zoo is the largest zoo in Canada. It is divided into seven zoogeographic regions: Indo-Malaya, Africa, Americas, Tundra Trek, Australasia, Eurasia, and th ...

Foundation. For many years Eyton sat on the board of

Grenville Christian College Grenville Christian College is a former private boarding school located in the rural community of Maitland, some northeast of Brockville, Ontario, on the bank of the St. Lawrence River. " The independent university preparatory school was comp ...

during the period that Father Charles Farnsworth was headmaster of the school. The former Canadian private school is now the subject of a class action lawsuit. Widespread child abuse has been alleged in the media where it has also been alleged that the school was operated as a mind control cult. In the 1980s Eyton organized a consortium intended to fund Toronto's

Skydome Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it ...

sports stadium with private financing. Massive cost overruns ended up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Eyton was an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the c ...

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 or ...

for Ontario, and was awarded honorary Doctors of Laws by both the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

and the

University of King's College The University of King's College, established in 1789, is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and Nova Scotian Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century." Anglic ...

at Dalhousie – where he was Chancellor from 1996 to 2001. In 2000 he was awarded Mexico’s

Order of the Aztec Eagle The Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle ( es, Orden Mexicana del Águila Azteca) forms part of the Mexican Honours System and is the highest Mexican order awarded to foreigners in the country. History It was created by decree on December 29, 1933 ...

– the highest award given to foreigners by the government of Mexico. In his spare time he enjoyed skiing and golf. Trevor Eyton married to Barbara Jane Montgomery in 1955. They had five children: Deborah Jane, Susannah Margaret, Sarah Elizabeth, Adam Tudor, and Christopher Montgomery, who have given the Eytons 11 grandchildren. Eyton retired from the Senate on July 12, 2009, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. He died on February 24, 2019 at the age of 85. In December 2019, the ''

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 ...

'' reported that Eyton died owing millions in income taxes, despite his high profile business career and long-term senate appointment.Toronto Star Dec 11, 2019
/ref>

References

External links

Order of Canada Citation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eyton, Trevor 1934 births 2019 deaths Businesspeople from Ontario Businesspeople from Quebec Canadian senators from Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators Members of the United Church of Canada Conservative Party of Canada senators Officers of the Order of Canada University of Toronto alumni Canadian university and college chancellors Lawyers in Ontario Politicians from Quebec City Canadian King's Counsel 21st-century Canadian politicians

Life and career

See also

References

External links