David Sobey and grocery chain donate $18M to Saint Mary's University
Jack Julian | CBC News | Posted: March 21, 2019 6:36 PM | Last Updated: March 21, 2019
The donation is the largest in the institution's 217-year history
Saint Mary's University in Halifax has received an $18-million gift from David Sobey, the Sobey Foundation and Sobeys Inc., the largest donation in the institution's 217-year history.
"It really is a wonderful day for our university and for our school of business," university president Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray said Thursday.
Half of the money is a personal gift from David Sobey, a former Sobeys chairman and former chancellor of the university.
"Our gift is a deliberate reinvestment in the Sobey School of Business and Saint Mary's University, inspired by our belief and confidence in the university, its leadership, its students and its bright future," Sobey said.
Summerby-Murray said $5 million will create scholarships for students studying business at an undergraduate and graduate levels.
"The gift today will include the support of 150 student scholarships over the next 10 years, which will be designed to get the brightest and best students to come to Saint Mary's, to come to the Sobey school, and to attract them here with a high level of nationally significant support for them as students," Summerby-Murray said.
Undergraduate students could receive up to $40,000 over the course of their degree program.
The gift includes $7 million earmarked to endow two chairs at the Sobey School of Business and to create five new professorships lasting 10 years each.
"This is a stepping up that allows us to ensure that our business school is well positioned as one of the leading schools in the country. And this gift will allow us to transform our approach to attracting the brightest and best faculty members," Summerby-Murray said.
The remaining $6 million is earmarked to build a 43,000-square-foot expansion to the Sobey School of Business called the Sobeys Entrepreneurship & Innovation Hub.
The Nova Scotia government has committed $11 million to building the hub. Saint Mary's is seeking support from further donors before it begins construction.
Summerby-Murray said Thursday's donation will set Saint Mary's business education offerings apart from other schools in Canada, and strengthen its focus on knowledge creation, business education, entrepreneurship and innovation.