Donald Sobey, Com鈥57, LLD鈥16, a successful Canadian businessman and philanthropist who supported several major scholarships and initiatives at Queen鈥檚, has passed away. He was 86 years old.
鈥淒onald Sobey made a tremendous impact on Canadian business, yet he never forgot his Queen鈥檚 roots,鈥 says Vice-Principal (Advancement) Karen Bertrand, Artsci鈥94. 鈥淗is generosity funded many scholarships and created incredible opportunities for students to flourish and succeed. His passing is a great loss to the Queen鈥檚 community.鈥
After graduating from Queen鈥檚, Sobey returned home to Nova Scotia and joined his family鈥檚 grocery business. He helped build into a national grocery brand. He was appointed to the board of Empire Company Limited in 1963, became president in 1969 and took on the role as chairman in 1985 until his retirement in 2004. Today, Empire employs about 127,000 people and has approximately $28 billion in annualized sales in areas such as food retail and real estate.
Donald Sobey was one of only two Atlantic Canadian students when he arrived at Queen鈥檚 in 1953 and described his student experience as transformative.
He and his son Rob, Artsci鈥88, committed millions of dollars to ensure other students from Atlantic Canada have the same opportunity to learn and excel at Queen鈥檚. In 1998, Donald and Rob created the D&R Sobey Atlantic Admission Award, a major admission award which each year funds up to eight outstanding Atlantic Canadian high school students entering the Smith School of Business. Every year, the father and son return to Queen鈥檚 to host a traditional East Coast lobster supper and meet with the award recipients.
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud [of the scholarships],鈥 Donald Sobey said after getting an honorary degree from Queen鈥檚 in 2016. "I enjoy the interactions. They are amazing young people, and you can see the country is in pretty good hands.鈥
In 2008, he established the to support high-quality research conducted by a School of Business faculty member.
When the pandemic hit last year, Sobey was one of the first philanthropists to support a project led by Queen鈥檚 Professor Emeritus and Nobel Prize recipient Art McDonald to design an easy-to-build ventilator that can help treat COVID-19 patients. Sobey made his donation less than 24 hours after receiving a phone call from Dr. McDonald asking for support.
In 2007, Sobey was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, and in 2014, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contributions as an entrepreneur and philanthropist and in 2016 recognized by Queen鈥檚 with an honorary degree.
