Nationality Canadian Occupation Lawyer, businessman | Known for philanthropy Name Fred Fountain | |
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Full Name Frederick Sheldon Fountain | ||
Fred S. Fountain, CM, Doctor of Humanities
Frederick Sheldon Fountain CM is a Canadian lawyer, businessman and philanthropist. He was the chancellor of Dalhousie University from 2008 to 2015.
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Early life and education
Born in Truro, Nova Scotia, son of Sheldon Leroy and Marjorie (Manning) Fountain, he graduated from King's-Edgehill School and then went on to Dartmouth College where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in French, and then graduated from Dalhousie University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Laws degree.
Career
He was a founding partner of a Halifax law firm, Franklin Fountain Mitton and Thompson (later Burke Thompson) and a judge of the Regional Assessment Appeal Court from 1980 to 1989. He has been the Chief Executive Officer of "Great Eastern Corporation Ltd" since 1985. The company is an asset management firm that was founded in 1941 by his grandfather Fred Manning. By 2009, after a brief period during which he took the company public, it had estimated assets of $102 million.
Philanthropy
For his philanthropy, especially in the field of the arts, Fountain was invested with the award of Member of the Order of Canada by then Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean on June 18, 2010. In May 2013, he donated $10 million to Dalhousie University's to establish a performing arts school. He had previously made important donations to the Neptune Theatre and Symphony Nova Scotia.
In 2014, it was announced that he and his wife Elizabeth had donated $3 million to NSCAD University, one of the largest endowments ever for that institution. The downtown Granville campus will be named the Fountain Campus in recognition of their gift.
His term as Chancellor was extended from June 2014 to March 31, 2015 and his successor was Anne McLellan (May 25, 2015).