Dorothy J. Killam
| Dorothy J. Killam | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Dorothy Ruth Brooks Johnston 1900 St. Louis, Missouri |
| Died | July 26, 1965 (aged 64–65) Villefranche-sur-Mer, France |
| Resting place | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Philanthropist |
| Known for | Establishment of the Killam Trusts for higher education in Canada |
| Spouse(s) | Izaak Walton Killam (1922–1955) |
Dorothy J. Killam (1900 – 26 July 1965) was an American-born Canadian philanthropist. She was the wife of Canadian financier Izaak Walton Killam. When he died in 1955 she inherited his fortune and continued to build it until her own death 10 years later. She engaged in philanthropic activity during her lifetime and left her estate to a number of Canadian educational and research institutions.
Dorothy Ruth Brooks Johnston was born in 1900 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, John Thomas Morris Johnston, was a wealthy banker, and her mother was the former Florence Brooks. At the age of 19 her father opened a store in Ashland, Missouri and eight years later established a bank, of which he became president, in the town. He later spent several years as a Baptist minister, while remaining president of the Ashland bank. He was pastor of a church in St. Louis from 1897 to 1907. He then became a history professor at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. He established banks in Kansas City, Missouri, Denison, Texas, and Muskogee, Oklahoma, and returned with his family to St. Louis. By 1915 he was described as a "millionaire St. Louis banker", and was said to be considering running for the United States Senate.
Dorothy Johnston met Izaak Walton Killam at a party when she visited a friend in Montreal in 1921. They were married in St. Louis on 5 April 1922. Killam had been president of Royal Securities since 1915, and had bought the brokerage firm from Max Aitken in 1919. He suffered serious financial losses in 1921, but recovered his fortune within a few years and went on to become extremely wealthy, with major interests in pulp and paper and electric power companies, among many others.
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