Using Midas touch for good
PETER Munk was a Canadian immigrant who founded Barrick Gold in 1983, turning it into the world’s largest gold producer employing 10,000 staff on five continents.
Munk was also one of Canada’s most significant philanthropists, donating a total of almost $ C300 million ($ 305 million), including a $ C100 million gift last year to the Toronto General Hospital – the largest single donation ever made to a hospital in that country.
Munk also created the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and, in 2008, founded the Munk Debates, which bring the world’s top intellectuals to Toronto to tackle pressing global issues.
Munk was born in Budapest and fled Hungary with his family in 1944 amid World War II.
He arrived in Toronto with nothing but a small suitcase.
He started his first company while a student at the University of Toronto, employing students to sell Christmas trees outside supermarkets.
Graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, he founded a successful stereo console business that gained endorsements from singer Frank Sinatra and jazz musician Oscar Peterson.
Munk went on to build a hotel empire in the South Pacific and develop a marina for super yachts after buying a port in Montenegro.
But he said Barrick Gold would be his legacy. In 1986, Barrick bought an underperforming mine in Nevada. Munk struck it big and the mine became one of the company’s core assets, producing over 1 million ounces of gold a year. Ten