The Right Honourable The Lord Thomson of Fleet |
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Personal details | |
Born | David Kenneth Roy Thomson 12 June 1957 |
Nationality | Canadian |
Spouse(s) | Mary Lou La Prairie (1988–1996) Laurie Ludwick (2000–2006) |
Domestic partner | Kelly Rowan (2007–2008) Severine Nackers (2014–present) |
Children | 5 |
Parents | Kenneth Roy Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet Nora Marilyn Lavis Thomson |
Relatives | Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet (grandfather) Edna Thomson (grandmother) Peter John Thomson (brother) |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
David Kenneth Roy Thomson, 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet (born 12 June 1957) is a Canadian media magnate. He is the son of the late Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet and his siblings are Taylor Thomson and race car driver Peter Thomson. He became the chairman of Thomson Corporation in 2006 at the death of his father and after the acquisition of Reuters, became the chairman of the merged entity, Thomson Reuters in 2008. At the same time he inherited his father's title, Baron Thomson of Fleet.
In January 2017, according to a report issued by Oxfam Canada, Thomson and billionaire businessman, Galen Weston Sr., have as much wealth as the poorest 11 million Canadians combined.[1] As of March 2017, Thomson is listed as one of the wealthiest people in the world with an estimated net worth of $27.2 billion.[2]
Contents
Education
Thomson attended The Hall School, London, England, Upper Canada College and received a BA (subsequently upgraded to an MA) in history from Selwyn College of the University of Cambridge in 1978.
Business career
Thomson has worked a number of positions in companies controlled by his family. He was manager of The Bay store at Cloverdale Mall in Etobicoke, and President of Zellers. He founded the real estate firm Osmington Incorporated, owned and operated outside of the Thomson empire. Osmington is a partner in True North Sports and Entertainment, owners of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and the MTS Centre in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba.[3]
Thomson is an aggressive art collector and owns works by Rembrandt, J.W. Turner, Paul Klee, Edvard Munch, Patrick Heron, Joseph Beuys, E.L. Kirchner and Egon Schiele. Thomson owns the world's largest collection of paintings and drawings by the English painter John Constable. Like his father, Thomson is an active acquirer of Canadian art and paid a record C$11.2 million in November, 2016, to buy a painting at auction by Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris entitled "Mountain Forms". In 2012, Thomson broke the record for being the most expensive 18th century British watercolour when he paid £2.4 million pounds for a small landscape by John Robert Cozens. Thomson operates his collecting activities through his personal Thomson Works of Art company as well as his Archive of Modern Conflict, based in a Victorian house situated behind his London residence, at 34 Holland Park Road, London, W14. Specialists within the archive purchase photography collections worldwide and also run a book publishing arm, AMC Books, which has a Canadian imprint, Bone Idle Books, based in The Thomson Building on Queen Street West in Toronto. Thomson's real estate arm Osmington revealed that Thomson is building a gallery to house his personal collection within the new retail and condo development by Osmington and Tridel on McCaul Street in Toronto.
According to a plan devised decades ago by Thomson Corporation founder Roy Thomson, when Kenneth Thomson died (June 2006), control of the family fortune passed on to David.[4]
"David, my grandson, will have to take his part in the running of the Organisation and David's son, too," Roy wrote in his 1975 autobiography. "With the fortune that we will leave to them go also responsibilities. These Thomson boys that come after Ken are not going to be able, even if they want to, to shrug off these responsibilities."[4]
Personal life
Thomson's private life is usually kept under cover, except "particularly bitter divorce action against his second wife" which received extensive coverage in Maclean's news magazine but was largely ignored by other media. He is the father of five children: one daughter Lady Vanessa Thomson from his first marriage with Mary Lou La Prairie (w. 1988); and two sons, The Hon. Benjamin James Ludwick (March 10, 2006) and, The Hon. Nate Thomson (November 13, 2001), with his second wife, Laurie Ludwick (w. 2000), born six months after Thomson left the marriage; one daughter with actress Kelly Rowan. He was engaged to Rowan in late June 2007.[5] They broke off their engagement just before Rowan gave birth to their daughter in Los Angeles, California, on April 28, 2008.[6] In September 2009, Rowan and Thomson made their first public appearance since their alleged split in early 2008, at the Toronto International Film Festival. He had another daughter named Ottilie (August, 2015) with Sotheby’s head of prints in Europe, Belgian-born Severine Nackers.[7]. "Thomson's son from the second marriage, who was born after the couple separated, is the company's designated heir." [4] Thomson has been in an on and off again relationship with Diana Widmaier Picasso, granddaughter of Picasso. He has also been linked to the artist Cindy Sherman.
Like his mother, David Thomson is a patron of the Art Gallery of Ontario. With the death of his father, he became the 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet on 12 June 2006, his 49th birthday. He does not use this title in Canada. He is an avid art collector and owns the world's top collection of John Constable.[8]
Thomson has rarely given interviews to the press and maintains a low public profile. "The only substantial interview he has given was to James FitzGerald, who wrote a book about the elite private school (Upper Canada College) they both attended in Toronto," according to a July 3, 2006 article in The New York Times. "In his comments to Mr. FitzGerald 12 years ago, David had little positive to say about many people in the business world".[4] In the interview, Thomson said: "When you try to live a more balanced life, traditional businessmen think that you are not a real man. But who is not the real man? You are telling me? You have not taken a weekend with your wife, you have no spare time that you use constructively, you do not have any hobbies, you do not know how to spell Mozart. And here you are telling me that I am weak?"[4] He resides in Toronto, Ontario.[9]
Styles of address
- 1957-1976: Mr David Thomson
- 1976-2006: The Honourable David Thomson
- 2006-: The Right Honourable The Lord Thomson of Fleet
See also
References
- ^ "2 Richest Canadians Have More Money Than 11 Million Combined". CBC News. January 15, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^ "Bloomberg Billionares Index". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
- ^ True North buys Thrashers, set to move team to Winnipeg. Tsn.ca. Retrieved on 2013-08-17.
- ^ a b c d e [1]"In Canada, the Torch is Passed on a Quiet but Profitable Legacy," by Ian Austen, The New York Times (Business Day section) p. C1, July 3, 2006; accessed on July 3, 2006.
- ^ "The O.C.'s Kelly Rowan Engaged to Billionaire". people.com.
- ^ Stephen M. Silverman. "Kelly Rowan Gives Birth to Daughter". people.com.
- ^ "Billionaire's secret lovechild with Sotheby's art expert". dailymail.co.uk.
- ^ Matthew Chung (21 June 2007). "Billionaire Thomson to marry actress". Toronto: thestar.com.
- ^ "David Thomson & family". Forbes. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
External links
Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by Ken Thomson |
Baron Thomson of Fleet 2006–present |
Incumbent Heir apparent: Hon. Benjamin Thomson |