Nationality Canadian Role Architect Name Ronald Thom | Practice Thom Partnership Occupation Architect | |
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Alma mater Vancouver School of Art Education Emily Carr University of Art and Design | ||
Ronald James Thom, (May 15, 1923 – October 29, 1986) was a Canadian architect. He is especially well-known for his two masterpieces, Massey College and Trent University's riverside campus.
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Early years
He was born in Penticton, British Columbia, the son of James Thom and Elena Myrtle Fennel. Thom served as an aviator with the RCAF during World War II, returned and graduated from the Vancouver School of Art in 1947. He never went to architecture school but apprenticed at Thompson, Berwick & Pratt, where he quickly became recognized as an unusually gifted draughtsman and designer. and also designed notable houses in the Vancouver area, several of which won Massey Awards, the country's top award for architecture. In 1957, he became a registered architect at Thompson, Berwick and Pratt and a partner shortly afterward.
Professional practice
He established R.J. Thom & Associates in Toronto in 1963 and later the Thom Partnership. He was a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 1980, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He had a lifelong battle with alcoholism and was eventually forced out of the partnership by some younger partners. He died at his office in 1986 after a bout of heavy drinking. His ashes were taken back by his family and scattered off the Pacific Ocean at Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver.
He was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition in 2013 and 2014, "Ron Thom and the Allied Arts" featuring a collection of photographs, drawings, letters and furniture that he designed for his buildings. The exhibition was shown in British Columbia in 2013, at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto beginning in February 2014, and at the Beaverbrook Gallery, Fredericton in November 2014.
Honours and Awards
Personal
Thom was married twice, first to Christine Helen Millard (1923-2014) in 1943 and survived by second wife Molly (m. 1963), daughter Emma (a veterinarian) and son Adam Thom (himself an architect).