Donald Summerville
| Donald Dean Summerville | |
|---|---|
| 53rd Mayor of Toronto | |
|
In office 1963–1963 |
|
| Preceded by | Nathan Phillips |
| Succeeded by | Phil Givens |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 4, 1915 Toronto, Ontario |
| Died | November 19, 1963 (aged 48) Toronto, Ontario |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Alice Summerville |
| Parents | William Summerville and Alberta D. White |
| Occupation | politician |
| Profession | military pilot, real estate office manager |
| Religion | Protestant |
Donald Dean Summerville (August 4,1915 – November 19, 1963) was an east-end municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario, and served as Mayor of Toronto, briefly, until his death.
Summerville was born in Toronto to William Arthur Summerville and Alberta White in 1915. He had an older brother, Ross, who died as an infant in 1910.
Summerville served as a pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, and is reputed to have bombed the Canadian National Exhibition grounds in Toronto by mistake during training. Before public office he was manager of family owned real estate company Summerville Properties (founded 1912).
He was first elected to city council in 1955 as the alderman for Ward 8, in east-end Toronto, that included The Beaches neighbourhood. He served until 1958, then he was elected to the Toronto Board of Control – the city hall executive council – in 1959 and served until 1961. He was elected mayor of Toronto in December 1962 and took office on New Year's Day 1963.
Summerville suffered a fatal heart attack while playing in a charity hockey game at the George Bell Arena in the west-end Toronto neighbourhood known as The Junction. The fire department arrived about three minutes after they were called, but because ambulances in the area were already on call, an ambulance had to be dispatched from Yonge Street at Davenport Road and did not arrive until about 15 minutes after it was called, arriving at 8:55 p.m. At very high speed, he was rushed to St. Joseph Hospital in the High Park area, and died there at 9:05 p.m. Mayor Philip Givens, who succeeded Summerville, called for an inquest into why the emergency response was so slow. The inquiry into the emergency response to his death found that the closest ambulance was not sent, because the ambulance service it belonged to, did not have jurisdiction over The Junction, and thus wasn't called. This led to the creation of the Department of Emergency Services and the amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto's various local ambulance services.
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