TORONTO, November 1, 2011 — York University President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri announced a $25-million dollar transformative donation from Pierre Lassonde, chairman, Franco-Nevada Corporation (TSX: FNV) (NYSE: FNV), for an expanded School of Engineering at York’s Keele campus.
“York University is extremely thankful to Pierre Lassonde for his very generous gift,” says Shoukri. “This transformative donation will allow us to create a truly unique engineering program that will redefine engineering for the 21st century.”
Based on its traditional strength in humanities, social sciences, business and law, the University is committed to ensuring that our engineering students will be broadly educated to support future economic and social development.
“The most important natural resource of our country is not its oil or minerals or forests, but our young people,” says Lassonde. “It’s imperative that we give them all the education they need so that they can continue to make Canada one of the best places in the world to live. Through the collaboration of the new engineering program at York with one of the most successful business schools in the world, the Schulich School of Business, we know we can make a difference.”
"Pierre's gift and vision will support a whole new way of thinking about engineering education. His transformational donation will lead to the creation of the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University, with an ambition to graduate a new generation of entrepreneurial engineers with a social conscience," says Janusz Kozinski, dean, Faculty of Science & Engineering.
This generous donation from Pierre Lassonde, combined with funding from the Ontario Government and the University, provides an investment enabling York to become one of the best global engineering schools based in Canada.
“York has a rich history of educational innovation, and the broadening of the focus of the engineering school to include business and public policy is a welcome step forward,” said Glen Murray, Ontario’s minister of training, colleges and universities. “Mr. Lassonde’s generous gift will accelerate the program and help transform it into a model for next-generation education in engineering.”
By embodying York’s core values of social responsibility, global citizenship and interdisciplinary education, the new school will provide a unique approach to engineering and entrepreneurship, establishing itself as a destination of choice for top engineering students.
About Pierre Lassonde:
Pierre Lassonde, CM, OQ
Chairman, Franco-Nevada Corporation
Pierre Lassonde has a BA, University of Montreal (1967), a BSc electrical engineering from Polytechnique, Montreal (1971) and an MBA, University of Utah (1973). He received his PEng Ontario designation in 1976 and his CFA, University of Virginia, 1984. He holds honorary PhDs in engineering from the Universities of Toronto, Montreal and Ryerson, and a doctor of business, University of Utah.
In 1982, Lassonde co-founded Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation, the first publicly traded gold royalty company. Over the next 20 years, the company provided shareholders with a 36 per cent annualized rate of return. In February 2002, Franco-Nevada was acquired by Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s largest gold producer at the time. Lassonde was president of Newmont from 2002 to 2007 and vice-chairman in 2007. He served as chairman of the World Gold Council from 2005 to 2009.
In 2008, he led a group of investors and former executives in bringing back Franco-Nevada to the public market and became its chairman. The $1.2-billion IPO of Franco-Nevada was the largest mining company initial public offering ever done on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The success story continues today as the market capitalization of the company is now over $5 billion.
Lassonde’s philanthropic activities have had a significant impact on education and the arts. The Lassonde Entrepreneur Centre at the University of Utah was ranked number one in the US in 2010 for its creation of a public company from the University research labs. Other universities that have benefited from Lassonde’s philanthropy include Polytechnique Montréal, and the universities of Toronto, Western Ontario, Ryerson and York.
Lassonde has been chairman of the Quebec National Art Museum since 2005 and has led a $100-million campaign to build a new wing to double the museum exhibition surface. He was made a companion of the Order of Canada in 2002 and an officer of the Order of Quebec in 2008.
Other recognitions that Lassonde has received include:
- Mining Men of the Year, with his business partner, by the Northern Miner (1997).
- Mining Developer of the Year, along with his business partner, from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (l999).
- Engineering Medal, Entrepreneurship, PEO (1999).
- Hall of Fame, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah (2001) following an award as Distinguished Alumnus in 1999.
- Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy's Inco Medal (2001).
- Professional Engineers Ontario Gold Medal (2004).
- Inducted into the American Mining Hall of Fame (2005).
- CIM Robert Elver Mineral Economics Award (2011).
Lassonde is also the author of The Gold Book: The Complete Investment Guide to Precious Metals.
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York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto – Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 54,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 250,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 Faculties and 28 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
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Media contact: Wallace Pidgeon, Director, Media Relations416-736-2100 ext 22091 wpidgeon@yorku.ca
