Floyd Chalmers

Chalmers, Floyd
Floyd (Sherman) Chalmers. Publisher, administrator, editor, patron, b Chicago 14 Sep 1898 of Canadian parents, d Toronto 26 Apr 1993; honorary LLD (Waterloo Lutheran) 1963, honorary D LITT (Trent) 1968, honorary BFA (York) 1973. Floyd Chalmers attended school in Orillia, Ont, and Toronto, and joined the Bank of Nova Scotia at 16. While he was overseas during World War I with the First Canadian Tank Battalion, he edited the Battalion News. He joined the Financial Post in 1919 and became Montreal editor in 1923 and editor in 1925. He was appointed to the board of the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1935 and served on it as vice-chairman for nearly 20 years. He was appointed executive vice-president of the publishers Maclean-Hunter, in 1942, and was president 1952-64, chairman 1964-9, and was named honorary chairman in 1979. A director of numerous corporations, Chalmers also was founder and president 1929-30 of the Ticker Club, president 1932-3 of the Canadian Club of Toronto, president 1947-9 of the Periodical Press Association of Canada, president 1957-61 and 1969-72 and later honorary director of the Canadian Opera Company, president 1965-7 and later senator of The Stratford Shakespearean Festival Foundation of Canada, and chancellor 1968-73 of York University, Toronto.

Floyd Chalmers was accorded many honours reflecting the variety of his endeavours. In 1957 he was named a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, England, a Freeman of the City of London, and a Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967 and elevated to Companion in 1984. He received the first Special Award of the Canadian Music Council in 1972, the Canadian Conference of the Arts Diplôme d'honneur in 1974, and the first Medal of Appreciation from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) in 1982. In 1983, on Chalmers' 85th birthday, the future permanent home of the Canadian Music Centre was dedicated as Chalmers House in recognition of his contribution to music in Canada. In 1988, on his 90th birthday, a tribute to Floyd and Jean Chalmers was held at the Bluma Appel Theatre, St Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Floyd Chalmers founded and was president 1963-79 of the Floyd S. Chalmers Foundation (Chalmers Fund), the original sponsor of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada (EMC). Chalmers first conceived the idea of an encyclopedia of music in Canada upon reading John Beckwith's critical essay 'About Canadian Music: The PR Failure' (Musicanada, Jul-Aug 1969). After consultation with several experts he initiated the EMC project, assembling a board of governors; appointing a triumvirate of editors; and providing, through the Chalmers Foundation and personally, some $435,000 towards the preparation of its manuscript.

In 1979 he transferred to the OAC the assets and administration of the Chalmers Foundation. The assets represented the OAC's first major capital holding. In 1989 Floyd Chalmers made a gift of Maclean Hunter shares valued at a total of $10 million to 16 arts and educational institutions, the shares to be retained or sold by the recipients, at their choice.

Floyd Chalmers was married to music patron Jean Chalmers.

Author Mabel H. Laine, Kenneth Winters

Bibliography

Floyd Chalmers, A Gentleman of the Press (Toronto 1969)

Both Sides of the Street: One Man's Life in Business and the Arts in Canada (Toronto 1983)

Colgrass, Ulla. 'Patronage is hard work,' Music, May-Jun 1979

Julien, David A. 'Floyd Chalmers and the Canadian Music Centre,' Centre Notes, vol 1, Nov-Dec 1983

Kohl, Helen, 'Floyd Chalmers,' Opera Canada, vol 24, Winter 1983

Picard, André. '"Super patron" celebrates 90th birthday,' Toronto Globe and Mail, 17 Sep 1988

Elliott, Robin, ed. A Tribute to Floyd and Jean Chalmers on the Occasion of Mr. Chalmers' 90th Birthday (Toronto 1988)

Drainie, Bronwyn. 'The Chalmers family "stock exchange" sets a shining example,' Toronto Globe and Mail, 9 Sep 1989