J.P. Bickell: Class of 1902 One of Canada’s most philanthropic citizens
Joe Morse
A
n email from a Graham MacLachlan asking if his cousin had attended St. Andrew’s College led to my discovery of the story of a fascinating and philanthropic Andrean, John Paris Bickell, one of the first graduates of St. Andrew’s College in 1902. Bickell formed The Bickell Foundation in the early 1950s, and his philanthropy continues to touch the lives of many people. Bickell was already developing his entrepreneurial gifts while still at SAC. His registration card records that he “… knew little of how to be a student. [He] supported himself while at school by selling tea.” And in the summer 1901 edition of The Review, we learn more about this aspect of his character. In an article called A Backward Glance, the author looks back over the school year and notes, “I beheld J. P. Bickell auctioning off goods at a great rate. By appearance he was having a lot to say for himself and for his goods too.” He was a young man destined to go places, and go places he certainly did! Bickell went on to become one of Canada’s wealthiest and most philanthropic citizens. He started his own company at the age of 23 and was a millionaire by 30; he then went on to buy the McIntyre Plains Gold Mine in Timmins, Ontario. Bickell was a 20% owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and helped finance and build Maple Leaf Gardens, becoming its president and chairman. His name appears on the Stanley Cup six times. The J.P. Bickell Award was created in his honour and is scheduled to be reinstated this fall. He was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. During the Second World War, Bickell was part of a group, including Lord Beaverbrook, who supported the war effort. He donated two amphibious planes to the RCAF along with a cheque for $5,000. He went to the U.K. to run the British Aircraft Supply and on his return became president of Victory Aircraft. After the war, he founded and became chairman of A.V. Roe Canada Ltd., which became two subsidiaries in 1954 (one of them, Avro Aircraft Ltd., built the famous Avro Arrow) and which had over 25,000 employees. His philanthropic contributions have been many: he built the McIntyre Recreation Complex in Schumacher, Ont., for his workers and for the community; there is also a Camp
Bickell for children near Timmins, which he funded. The foundation donates to many research facilities and universities. He was a founding member of the Toronto Art Gallery, now the Ontario Art Gallery, and bequeathed them his personal collection. St. Andrew’s College has also been the fortunate recipient of The Bickell Foundation’s generosity. On his death in 1951, he left the majority of his $13-million fortune to The Bickell Foundation, which gives away half the interest every year to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. His cousin, Graham MacLachlan, speculates that his generous gifts to the hospital were promulgated by the death of his two brothers at an early age and the death of his father when Bickell was only six years old. Philanthropic generosity is and has been a hallmark of many prominent Andreans; John Paris Bickell was among the very first. SUE HAYTER www.sac.on.ca 25