John Abbott plans a Hall of Distinction for 50th anniversary

College’s fundraiser oozes enthusiasm, aims for 50 inductees by 2021 event

Barth Gillan is in charge of the John Abbott College Foundation. His job is to mobilize alumni, retirees and community friends of John Abbott to make the 50th anniversary in 2021 a big hit.

He also raises money, quite a lot of it, for John Abbott students.

He’s John Abbott College’s fundraiser, but more importantly he’s also a network builder. His job is to raise money to pay for the scholarship and financial assistance programs. And, no doubt, there are people who run away when they see him coming. But if you stop and listen to him, you get caught up with his enthusiasm for John Abbott.

His name makes him sound like the hero of an American novel, but there’s nothing fictional about this man who’s mandated to help lead John Abbott to its 50th anniversary in 2021. He was born in Parry Sound, Ont., the same place as Bobby Orr, the greatest of the Boston Bruins, and grew up in a house in Gravenhurst, Ont., just a few blocks over from where famed Canadian doctor Norman Bethune lived. Not bad for neighbourhood connections in Muskoka.

Gillan’s mother wanted to call him Bartholomew, but his father couldn’t spell it, so they settled on Barth for short, Barth Gillan. Gillan is an Irish name and he’s proud of it.

He went to McGill University, where he studied linguistics, specializing in Japanese. Yes, Japanese. Why Japanese? It was the era of the smash TV series, Shogun! Why not Japanese? He later worked a couple of years for a Japanese bank, setting up a branch in Montreal. Then, through his fraternity at McGill he veered off into fundraising. And here he is networking and fundraising for the West Island’s John Abbott College.

When you get all that sorted out, you quickly catch his wave of enthusiasm for his new college. He’s very quick to grab any name you float up or an idea or a theme and he keeps checking his screen and his burgeoning data bank of John Abbott people.

So, Gillan, how are you proposing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Abbott College? What is all this about a Hall of Distinction?

First of all, he insists, John Abbott College is all about its teams — of students, faculty, support staff, retirees, with anyone who wants to help. So the idea of setting up a Hall of Distinction, for example, is the brain-child of a committee that tossed up the idea in 2015.

“We want to recognize students, teachers, friends of John Abbott who’ve distinguished themselves over the years. Maybe later we’ll celebrate successful teams or groups of students. The important thing is to realize that we don’t just raise money. We’re trying to contact and network our alumni. Sure we have our scholarships based on merit, our bursaries based on need and financial assistance….”

He explains a bit more about that one: “You know, education in Quebec is almost free, but living is not. We help students who need financial assistance to survive while they’re studying.”

In case you had thoughts to the contrary, John Abbott is not the famous middle-class country club they used to joke about in the last century, if it ever was. It now has a very mixed student population and the student assistance fund is there to help, for example, students whose parents lose their jobs and can’t fund any more, students who can’t afford a bus pass, students with immigration difficulties.

So let’s get back to this Hall of Distinction for which people have just finished nominating candidates. Of course, there’s a committee to select the people to be honoured as part of the induction on May 26 this year. Why May 26? On that same day employees who’ve worked 15 and 25 years at John Abbott are honoured as well as the year’s retirees. “It’ll be like our Order of Canada,” says Gillan, rushing on with the plans. “We’re still working on the details. We want 50 inductees by the 50th anniversary in 2021.”

It’s too late to nominate candidates for the 2016 induction, but if you have any ideas for the next years, go to the John Abbott website (www.johnabbott.qc.ca) and click on “Foundation” at the top of the page.

The mind wanders — Sam Roberts, the rock star; Gareth Potter, who played Romeo at the Stratford Festival and who’s doing a one-man show this summer; all our footballers; basketball players; rugby players; our writers; Jennifer Ditchburn, the television personality; Glen Murray, the politician. Not bad really for a little West Island college.