Peter Munk
Peter Munk, OC , B.Eng , P.Eng , LL.D (born November 8, 1927 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He is the chairman and founder of the controversial mining company Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold-mining corporation.
Early years
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Munk was born in Hungary into a well-off Jewish family.
Hungary was invaded by Nazi Germany in March 1944, when Munk was a teenager. Between May and July that year, the country's Jewish community was deported to the gas chambers at Auschwitz at a rate of 12,000 every day. Munk's family escaped death by being offered seats on the Kastner train, a train carrying 1,684 Jewish refugees to safety in Switzerland. The transport was arranged by Rudolf Kastner of the Zionist Aid and Rescue Committee, as a result of negotiations with senior SS officer Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann allowed some Jews to leave for Switzerland in exchange for money, gold, and diamonds, as part of a series of so-called "blood for goods" deals.[1]
Education
Munk graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in electrical engineering in 1952.
Business empire
Despite being an engineer, Munk's rise came from a career in business. He is Chairman and founder of Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold mining corporation. Munk was founder, Chairman and CEO of Trizec Properties (one of the largest U.S. REITs – listed on the NYSE), where in 2006 Trizec was sold to Brookfield Properties.
In 1958, he founded Clairtone of Canada with business partner David Gilmour. This company manufactured high-end console stereos and later televisions, which were recognizable icons of their day. The most famous Clairtone designs were the "Project G" series which was seen in the film The Graduate. Later, he founded and was Chairman and CEO of Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation, the largest hotel and restaurant chain in Australasia in the 1970s.
Latest investments will/are taking place in resort area. Specifically, investments in Montenegrin town of Tivat. Presently is known that Mr. Munk has bought an old naval shipyard in Tivat to be transformed in vacation resort and mega marina.
Criticism
Asides from the severely criticized actions of Barrick Gold, Peter Munk was also named by Mother Jones Magazine as one of their ten little piggies. A term they used to denote greed, disregard for the environment, and disregard for the lives of others. [1]
Personal
Munk is married to Melanie Jane Bosanquet Munk and has five adult children.
Honours
He has received a number of honorary degrees:
- Doctorate from Upsala College, New Jersey.
- Doctorate from Bishop's University, Quebec.
- Doctorate from Concordia University, Montreal.
- Doctorate from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
- Doctorate from Trinity College, University of Toronto
He is a distinguished lecturer at James Gillies Alumni Lecture, York University, Toronto. Munk has also been a member of various boards including:
- Trustee of the Toronto Hospital.
- Chairman of the University of Toronto Crown Foundation.
- Member of the World Gold Council.
He became Officer of The Order of Canada (Canada's highest civilian honour) in 1993; received The Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship in 2002 (the first time awarded in Canada); has been inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.
In 1992, the Peter Munk Charitable Foundation was founded. The Foundation has since dispersed over $50m to a variety of organizations that work to improve the health, learning and international reputation of Canadians.
On May 30, 2006, Munk announced that he will donate $37m to Toronto General Hospital - the largest gift ever made to a Canadian medical institution. The donation will help to support the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, which Munk helped create with a $6m donation to the hospital in 1997.
See also
Notes
- ^ Ligaya, Armina. "Anna Porter on a Hungarian pariah", CBC News, September 21, 2006.