8/6/2023 0 Comments Collector website![]() To ensure that the library can augment the collection with important works as they become available, Walsh and his wife Virginia, who also studied philosophy, created the Walsh Philosophy Endowment. The collection helps the university attract the world’s best philosophy students and researchers, and has raised U of T’s profile as the home of one of the leading rare book libraries in the world. Michael Walsh Collection is a valuable resource for philosophers, theologians, historians and students at U of T and in the broader community. With volumes covering western philosophical thought from before 1500 through to the 20th century, the F. “That was when I knew there was no turning back as a collector. “This was 20 times more than I had previously spent on an ‘expensive’ book – a very big leap,” he said. He paid $11,500, handing over a cheque to the antiquarian bookseller who had contacted him. In that interview, he recalled his first big purchase – a first edition of Scottish philosopher David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature (1739). “I became especially interested in books of philosophy and ideas,” he told University of Toronto Magazine in 2012. When he landed a job in the investment business, he decided to start a collection. But he maintained an interest in philosophy, and completed a PhD in the subject at the University of Guelph in 1992.Īlong with his passion for philosophy came a love of books – not just for reading but as physical objects. Walsh spent more than two decades in the fast-paced world of investments, ultimately serving as senior vice-president, secretary and director of First Marathon Securities. “To be honest, I was very surprised and somewhat worried.” “I visited a broker for another purpose, and by the end of the day I had a job, although I hadn’t taken any specialized courses in finance or investments,” he recalled. ![]() He thought he’d become a professor, but a chance meeting changed that. He earned an MBA from York University in 1975, graduating with a specialization in economics and public administration. Michael Walsh will receive a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa from the university.Ī financial executive for most of his career, Walsh, earned both a bachelor of arts and a master’s degree in philosophy the University of Guelph. Today, for his outstanding service to U of T through his commitment to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library and his gift of an extraordinary resource – the Walsh Philosophy Collection – F. In 1999, after carefully assembling several thousand volumes, he donated them to the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library – in the hope that scholars around the world would be able to use them to develop new philosophical insights. Michael Walsh enjoyed a highly successful career as an investment banker – but he never left schooling in philosophy behind, channeling his interest in the subject into building a rare book collection of some of the most important works of philosophy in the Western canon.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |