Chalmers, Floyd Sherman

▪ 1994

      U.S.-born Canadian editor, publisher, and philanthropist (b. Sept. 14, 1898, Chicago, Ill.—d. April 26, 1993, Toronto, Ont.), relied on hard work and initiative to become editor in chief of the Financial Post by the time he was 27 and later acquired a fortune as a major shareholder of Maclean Hunter, publisher of Maclean's magazine. He used his considerable wealth and organizational talents to generously support the arts in Canada. Chalmers, who grew up in Orillia, Ont., left high school to serve as an apprentice reporter at the Toronto News. He later joined the Financial Post and then stamped his editorial imprint on Maclean Hunter. He was elected a director of Maclean Publishing Co. in 1938 and was president (1952-64) and chairman of the board of directors (1964-69) of Maclean Hunter. Chalmers was especially remembered for commissioning Harry Somers to produce the opera Louis Riel for Canada's centennial celebration, for financing the publication of the English and French editions of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, for serving as a cofounder of the Canadian Opera Company and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, for establishing (together with his wife, Jean) the Jean A. Chalmers Chair in Canadian Music and the Institute for Canadian Music at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, and for his $10 million gift to 16 arts and educational institutions in 1989. He was also chancellor of York University, North York, Ont., from 1968 to 1973 and was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1985.

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