Thomson, Kenneth Roy

▪ 2007

Thomson of Fleet, Kenneth Roy Thomson, 2nd Baron 

      Canadian media magnate (b. Sept. 1, 1923, Toronto, Ont.—d. June 12, 2006, Toronto), succeeded his father, Roy, as head of Thomson Corp. upon his death in 1976, at which time he also inherited the British peerage. He turned his father's British firm, whose holdings included mainly newspapers, into a Toronto-based electronic media empire that retained ownership of only one newspaper, the Globe and Mail. Thomson, who had amassed assets worth nearly $20 billion, was listed by Forbes magazine as the richest person in Canada and the ninth richest in the world. In 2002 Thomson installed his eldest son, David, as chairman of the corporation. An avid art collector, he donated nearly 2,000 artworks to Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario.

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