Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet
| The Right Honourable The Lord Thomson of Fleet |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
September 1, 1923 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | June 12, 2006 (aged 82) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Chairman, Woodbridge Co. Ltd |
| Net worth |
 $17.9 billion USD (Mar. 2006) |
| Spouse(s) | Nora Marilyn Lavis Thomson |
| Website | thomson.com |
Kenneth Roy Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet (September 1, 1923 – June 12, 2006), in Canada known as Ken Thomson, was a Canadian businessman and art collector who, at the time of his death, was the richest person in Canada, and the ninth richest person in the world, according to Forbes.com, with assets of approximately US $17.9 billion.
Kenneth Thomson was born on September 1, 1923, in Toronto, Ontario. He was the son of Roy Thomson, the founder of the Thomson Corporation.
Thomson was educated at Upper Canada College in Toronto and at St. John's College of the University of Cambridge in the UK, where he received a degree in Economics and Law. During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Following the war, he completed his education and entered the family business. In 1956, he married Nora Marilyn Lavis, with whom he had three children: David, Peter, and Lynne (now known as Taylor).
On his father's death, Thomson succeeded as 2nd Lord Thomson of Fleet. However, Thomson never used his noble title in Canada or took up his seat in the House of Lords. In a 1980 interview with Saturday Night magazine, he said, "In London I'm Lord Thomson, in Toronto I'm Ken. I have two sets of Christmas cards and two sets of stationery. You might say I'm having my cake and eating it too. I'm honouring a promise to my father by being Lord Thomson, and at the same time I can just be Ken."
He succeeded his father as chair of what was then a media empire made up of extensive newspaper and television holdings. The Thomson media empire added the Globe and Mail in Toronto to The Times and Sunday Times in Britain and The Jerusalem Post in Israel. Under Thomson, the corporation sold its North Sea oil holdings and sold The Times to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and the Jerusalem Post to Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. The Globe and Mail was combined with BCE's cable and television assets (including CTV and The Sports Network) to form Bell Globemedia, controlled by BCE with Thomson as a minority shareholder. The company then sold all of its community newspapers to become a financial data services giant and one of the world's most powerful information services and academic publishing companies. Today, the company operates primarily in the US from its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. In 2002, The Thomson Corporation was listed on the as "TOC".
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