Kenneth Thomson
From Wikinfo
Kenneth Thomson, born 1923, is the richest person in Canada, with a net worth of US$14 billion, and the 13th richest person in the world (according to Forbes [1]).
He is the son of Roy Thomson, the founder of Thomson Corp., a Canadian newspaper chain. Kenneth Thomson succeeded his father as chair of Thomson Corp. in 1976, and was, in turn, succeeded as Chair by his son David in 2002.
Thomson is a well-known art collector. He holds the record buying for the most expensive picture ever sold in Canada: Paul Kane's Scene from the Northwest, for which he paid Can $5.06 million in 2002. That same year he announced a major financial donation (around C$50 million) to the Art Gallery of Ontario, with the plan that his collection would eventually end up there. He also bought Peter Paul Rubens "Massacre of the Innocents" for US$76.2 million, the third-highest price ever paid for a painting at auction, and the highest for an Old Master.
Thomson is married with three children, David, Peter and Lesley.
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Kenneth_Thomson" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Thomson, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
