Cultivating the ivy league - Atlantic Business Magazine
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CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY EXCLUSIVE FEATURE Cultivating the ivy league Unique business school scholarship offers cash and executive access to lucky recipients Story by: Stephen Kimber | Photos by: David Whittaker the newly renovated Goodes Hall at Queen’s School of Business. 30 | Atlantic Business Magazine | January/February 2013
M argo Northey, the dean of the
School of Business at Queen’s
University in Kingston, Ontario, had
traveled to Nova Scotia in the winter of
maker of the Sobey success story, dropped
out of school in Grade 8. At the time Donald
graduated high school in 1953, many self-
made business people still regarded effete
1999 to solicit what she hoped would be a degree-granting university business schools
generous contribution from Donald Sobey with more than a little, what-can-they-teach-
for the school’s latest bricks-and-mortar me skepticism.
fundraising drive. It seemed a good bet. But Donald’s Aunt Edith, who had “read
Donald Sobey was not only the chair of that people who go to business schools seem
Empire Company Ltd., the family holding to come out on top,” encouraged Donald’s
company that controlled Sobeys, one of interest. So too did Clyde Cameron, a family
Canada’s most successful supermarket friend and brother of the legendary Nova
chains, but he was also a proud-to-be Scotia industrialist R.B. Cameron. Clyde had
Queen’s business school grad. attended Royal Military College in Kingston,
Donald had been the first member of and he suggested young Donald apply to
his immediate family to attend university. its next-door neighbor, Queen’s, “the best
His father, Frank, the original self-made business school in the country.”
Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 31
gift personally rather than through the
Sobey Foundation. The family Foundation,
whose purpose is to “provide funding for
important initiatives that have a positive
and long-lasting impact in health, in
education or for communities,” continues
to make generous contributions to Atlantic
Canada’s universities and community
colleges (more than $9 million to 17
regional post-secondary institutions since
2001). But Donald, who is also a director
Proud Queen’s business school graduates rob Sobey (president and CeO of Lawtons Drugs) and his father, of the Foundation, saw this particular
Donald Sobey, wanted to support their alma mater. But they also wanted to support their Atlantic Canada roots.
the solution? A unique scholarship that provides students with financial support and executive networking. gift as personal, a commitment by him
and his son to their alma mater—and to
Atlantic Canada’s best and brightest young
When Donald arrived at what was then “Truman Mailman, please report business wannabes.
known as Queen’s School of Commerce to the principal’s office.” It was a late
and Administration in the fall of 1953, he winter morning in 2000. When a slightly
was one of only two Nova Scotians among nervous Mailman showed up at the office Through its Frank
the whole university student body. He at Sir John A. MacDonald High School
remembers attending his first lecture. in Tantallon, Nova Scotia, a few minutes H. Sobey Fund For
“There were 45 of us in the class and the later, he was handed a registered letter. Excellence in Business
professor says to us, ‘Look to your left, look The letter was from Queen’s University. Studies, the Sobey family
to your right. In four years, only one of you A self-described “farm boy from outside
will be here.’” He chuckles. “There was Chester,” Mailman was a good student Foundation awards
some truth in what he said. There were who, thanks to his parents, knew the value $10,000 a year to six
only 15 in our graduating class.” of a good education and knew instinctively
Donald’s academic success didn’t come too that he wanted to get away from his
undergraduate or graduate
easily either, especially because he’d gotten home province—at least for a while—to students already enrolled
his public school education in rural Nova pursue it. in business programs
Scotia. “Ontario still had Grade 13 then. In A few months earlier, Mailman had
Nova Scotia, we didn’t learn trigonometry discovered a poster, half hidden on a
at Atlantic Canadian
or calculus. So I had to catch up, take extra guidance counselor’s bulletin board, universities. Those
courses.” advertising a Sobey scholarship to awards, says Donald,
But in the end, Queen’s business school Queen’s. “I’d never heard of Queen’s at the
had been good to—and for—Donald time,” he says now. But he knew all about “have a different make
Sobey. So when Northey came calling, Sobeys. During his high school years, up and a different target”
Sobey was eager to give back. Still, he he’d worked weekends at Sobeys Tantallon from the D&R Sobey
hesitated. supermarket as a produce clerk in order to
Sobeys was one of the few national earn spending money. Scholarship.
companies in Canada headquartered in Mailman didn’t finally open the envelope
Nova Scotia. “If I gave to Queen’s,” he until he was safely back in biology class.
explains, “it would be at the expense of The letter congratulated him on becoming “I had such a great experience attending
institutions in Atlantic Canada. There were one of four Atlantic Canadian high school Queen’s and loved the idea of helping
lots of big companies with head offices in students to win the 2000 D&R Sobey young people directly,” Donald says. When
Ontario to give money to Queen’s. We’re Atlantic Scholarship. The scholarship, the students get an opportunity to travel and
a Nova Scotia company and we need to letter explained, was valued at $28,000— study outside their home region, he adds,
support our own universities.” $7,000 a year for each of the four years of “they graduate with perhaps a better
And yet… his undergraduate commerce degree. experience of Canada.”
The opportunity to travel to another “I was in shock,” Mailman says today. Though the Sobeys hope some of the
province to attend university, to expand “At the amount of money. At the prestige scholarship winners will eventually find
his personal horizons, had been a seminal of Queen’s. At the Sobey name.” their way back to Atlantic Canada, “there
experience in Donald Sobey’s young life. are no strings attached,” notes Rob, now
The same had been true for his son, Rob, the president and CEO of Lawton’s Drugs.
who’d also graduated from Queen’s in Donald Sobey did agree to make a “Ultimately, we want these high achievers
1988. Wasn’t it important to encourage generous contribution to his alma mater, to make their mark nationally and
young Atlantic Canadians to test but it was not for the usual name-on-the- internationally as Atlantic Canadians.”
themselves in the larger world and then, door building project. Instead, he donated “I also believe that Atlantic Canadians
hopefully, perhaps return home one day $3 million worth of Empire stock to endow have a very unique quality,” Donald
to assume their role as the region’s future the D&R (Donald and Robert) Sobey suggests, “and I think Queen’s School of
leaders? scholarship. Business and the rest of the country can
What if?… He also decided he would handle this benefit from that.”
32 | Atlantic Business Magazine | January/February 2013
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The scholarship program certainly more than 20,000 students, however, quickly
benefited from Donald Sobey’s personal disappeared, not only in the excitement of
attention to its financial success. “I insisted being in a new environment but also—and
on running it,” he says of the endowment perhaps equally importantly—with the reality
fund. He was worried some university fund that she got to meet a few of her fellow D&R
manager might someday sell off the shares, or winners before the end of frosh week. “I felt at
that they’d get lost in a sea of other university home right away.”
endowment money, never to be identifiable Later in the semester, she says, “Don and
again. Under Donald’s stewardship, the fund Rob”—that’s how most students refer to
has grown to more than $14 million, enabling them—invited her and her fellow scholarship
Queen’s to increase the number of scholarship winners to the lobster dinner they host
recipients to six a year and up the total amount each fall at Queen’s for all the two dozen
each student is eligible to receive to $68,000. recipients currently on campus. There, she
But that wasn’t the only way in which the not only got to meet her benefactors and
scholarship became personal for Donald and the other scholarship winners, but many of
Rob Sobey. her professors as well. “The lobster,” jokes
Donald, “has made it a must-attend event on
the Queen’s fall social schedule.”
Charlotte MacDonald calls the More significantly, says Rob Sobey, the
D&R Sobey Scholarship the “defining point dinner makes the students feel welcome.
2009 D&r Sobey Scholarship recipient of my experience to date.” Not so much When he “followed dad’s journey” to Queen’s
Charlotte MacDonald from Halifax, Nova winning it, but living it. “There may be other in the mid-1980s, “three of my closest friends
Scotia: “there were so many unknowns scholarships worth as much financially,” from high school came with me. It really eased
going into first year, so it was great
to look back on that nerve-wracking she allows, “but none of them provides the the transition for me to have that support,
experience and realize I was thrilled with personal connections that this one does.” and that’s what we hope to recreate with the
my university experience so far.”
When MacDonald graduated from Sacred scholarships.”
Heart School in Halifax in 2009, “there were “I like to meet the students, and they like
32 girls in my graduating class.” None went to to meet us,” Donald says. During the annual
Queen’s. Whatever fears she might have had dinner, he and Rob mingle with the students.
about being plunged into a campus filled with He’s free with folksy, practical advice. “Treat
34 | Atlantic Business Magazine | January/February 2013
university as though it were a job,” he
tells them, “eight hours in class, eight
hours for sleeping and eight hours to
enjoy the overall experience. A month or 2009 D&r Sobey
so before exams,” he adds with a twinkle, Scholarship recipient
“I recommend cutting the enjoyment part Benjamin Jain from
Halifax, Nova Scotia:
down to four hours.” “It’s like being a member
“It’s like being a member of an exclusive of an exclusive club. You
club,” says Halifax’s Benjamin Jain, who, meet people who are in
the same boat and come
like Charlotte, is a 2009 scholarship from the same place … I
winner. “You meet people who are in the truly felt at home around
everyone.”
same boat and come from the same place.
It was great to be able to talk about the Waeg
(the Halifax sailing club) and someone
would know right away what you mean. I
truly felt at home around everyone.”
Better, he says, he got to meet some of
the fourth year students at his first lobster
dinner. Now, three years later, as he is
about to graduate himself, “they’re all into
Whether you’re bringing electrical
their careers, but we’re still connected.” service to a public arena, a health
Scholarship alumni even have their own
LinkedIn group. clinic, a restaurant or a
“We even got together and organized
our own thank-you for Don and Rob,” country home...
Charlotte says of the current group of on-
campus Sobeys scholars. “We put together
a video and got them some funny gifts…
Commerce swag.”
While Queen’s officials handle
the initial vetting of the scholarship
applicants to make sure they meet the
university’s admission requirements,
a seven-member selection committee
dominated by Sobey-appointed trustees—
including both Donald and Rob—makes
the final selections, whittling down the ...Work
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two dozen or so finalists to six winners
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The Sobeys convinced Queen’s to 506.387.2396
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Authorized Distributor
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Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 35
the co-captain of Queen’s Varsity Figure skills are sorely needed.
Skating team. Benjamin Jain, who’s been When she graduates this spring, for
on the Dean’s list every year, has been example, Charlotte MacDonald will head
involved with marketing and promotions off to Toronto and a job with Boston
for the Queen’s Non-Profit Gateway, a Consulting. Benjamin Jain is test driving
Commerce department committee to law schools in Ontario and the United
pair business students with local non- States. He wants to study corporate law, he
profits, and volunteers at Martha’s Table, says, because it “combines all the things
a Kingston charity that provides low-cost I’m interested in.”
meals to those in need. Neither Charlotte nor Ben are
Other Sobey alumni include Dartmouth contemplating a return to Atlantic Canada
native Robert Marsh, a 2007 graduate any time soon. “For now,” explains Ben, “I
who was one of the finalists in the want to see a bit more of the world, and live
CBC’s “Canada’s Next Great Prime and work in some place new.”
Minister” contest, and Cape Bretoner Kyle Though she’s only in her first year,
MacDonald, a 2010 graduate who was Patricia Quek feels much the same way.
a defensive lineman on Queen’s 2009 “I’m staying in Ontario for now,” she says.
Vanier Cup-winning football team. “It’s more competitive, and there are a lot of
bright minds to challenge you to do better.”
“Some people might say we are a bit too
Patricia Quek, one of the 2012 forceful when we tell the first years there are
winners, fits right in with those over- no strings attached to their scholarship,”
achievers. Rob Sobey acknowledges. “They can go
At Fredericton High School, she wherever, do whatever.” It’s also easy
participated in school musical string enough to see why large corporations and
orchestras and chamber ensembles, was a international investment bankers are so
2012 D&r Sobey Scholarship recipient
Patricia Quek from Fredericton, New competitive gymnast and coach, served as eager to recruit them to strut their stuff on
Brunswick: “Queen’s has surpassed a coordinator for the Sogo Active Challenge a larger stage, he says. “They’re very bright
my expectations. the Sobeys even and was a member and volunteer with young people.”
reached out to me during a reception
for the incoming students last both the Chinese Cultural Association of “The hope,” he adds, “is that eventually
summer … It’s felt like family.” New Brunswick and also the Fredericton some of them will find their way back to
Community Kitchen. Atlantic Canada.”
Not to forget, she also won the prize for Some already have.
“Every year,” he adds, the selection the highest mark in Accounting in her When he graduated from Queen’s
process “gets tougher. Ten years ago, the senior year. in 2004, scholarship winner Truman
top candidates were easy to identify. Now, It was that Grade 12 Accounting class, Mailman traded in his new BComm for
the competition is more intense, which is in fact, that changed the course of her a job as a management trainee in Sobeys
a good thing.” academic career. Until then, she admits, “I downtown Toronto store. He worked the
Although marks are important— was going into science.” grocery night shift “in the first heat wave
students must submit their high school When she began casting about for where in Toronto” and, later, spent time in the
transcripts, an essay and responses to she should go to pursue her newfound meat department “cutting meat and tying
a series of “canned questions”—the business interests, she discovered that a up roasts. Rob and Don have always been
selectors are equally interested in what the student from the previous year’s graduating strong believers that you should start at the
scholarship guidelines describe as “proven class had attended Queen’s on a Sobey back of the store. There are things you can’t
leadership skills and involvement in school scholarship. Better, she had a good friend learn in a text book.”
or community activities.” who was already in third year at Queen’s. Having learned, he worked his way
“You may have a student with just an 88 Now three months into her own BComm quickly up the management ranks to
in math,” says Rob, “but look, he was his studies, Patricia says, “Queen’s has downtown Toronto store manager, then
high school president, he was the captain surpassed my expectations.” So has the category manager at Sobeys Ontario head
of his hockey team, he was working part scholarship. The Sobeys even “reached out office and then, finally… last spring, a job
time, he volunteered for three years at a to me” during a reception for the incoming as National Category Manager for over-the-
soup kitchen… Instead of pure academics, students last summer. “Rob and Don have counter drugs for both Sobeys pharmacies
which is what the university tends to look been great,” she says. “It’s felt like family.” and Sobey-owned Lawtons Drugs. That
at, we’re able to look at the whole picture. job, based in Lawtons head office in
We had some pushback [from Queen’s] at If there is one caveat to the Dartmouth, finally brought him home.
first,” he acknowledges, “but it’s all worked scholarship’s obvious success, it is simply “That was always the goal,” he says. “I
out.” that many of its graduates—Atlantic enjoyed my eight years in Toronto but
It has. Canada’s best and brightest—are too my wife—she’s from here too—knew we
Sobeys scholars have more than done good. They’re being wooed away to the wanted to come home at some point. We’re
well academically. bright lights and greater opportunities real proud Atlantic Canadians.”
Charlotte MacDonald, an Ontario on Bay Street and Wall Street rather than The next round of scholarship winners
University Athletics Academic All-Star, is returning to the east coast where their will be announced in the spring.| ABM
36 | Atlantic Business Magazine | January/February 2013
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