The collection helps the university attract the world’s best philosophy students and researchers, and has raised U of T’s profile as the home of one of the leading rare book libraries in the world.
Michael Walsh Collection is a valuable resource for philosophers, theologians, historians and students at U of T and in the broader community. With volumes covering western philosophical thought from before 1500 through to the 20th century, the F. “That was when I knew there was no turning back as a collector. “This was 20 times more than I had previously spent on an ‘expensive’ book – a very big leap,” he said. He paid $11,500, handing over a cheque to the antiquarian bookseller who had contacted him. In that interview, he recalled his first big purchase – a first edition of Scottish philosopher David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature (1739). “I became especially interested in books of philosophy and ideas,” he told University of Toronto Magazine in 2012. When he landed a job in the investment business, he decided to start a collection. But he maintained an interest in philosophy, and completed a PhD in the subject at the University of Guelph in 1992.Īlong with his passion for philosophy came a love of books – not just for reading but as physical objects. Walsh spent more than two decades in the fast-paced world of investments, ultimately serving as senior vice-president, secretary and director of First Marathon Securities. “To be honest, I was very surprised and somewhat worried.” “I visited a broker for another purpose, and by the end of the day I had a job, although I hadn’t taken any specialized courses in finance or investments,” he recalled. He thought he’d become a professor, but a chance meeting changed that. He earned an MBA from York University in 1975, graduating with a specialization in economics and public administration. Michael Walsh will receive a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa from the university.Ī financial executive for most of his career, Walsh, earned both a bachelor of arts and a master’s degree in philosophy the University of Guelph. Today, for his outstanding service to U of T through his commitment to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library and his gift of an extraordinary resource – the Walsh Philosophy Collection – F. In 1999, after carefully assembling several thousand volumes, he donated them to the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library – in the hope that scholars around the world would be able to use them to develop new philosophical insights. Michael Walsh enjoyed a highly successful career as an investment banker – but he never left schooling in philosophy behind, channeling his interest in the subject into building a rare book collection of some of the most important works of philosophy in the Western canon.
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