Founded gold mining company, donated millions
TORONTO — Peter Munk, a Canadian immigrant who founded Barrick Gold and turned it into the world’s largest gold producer, died Wednesday.
His daughter Nina Munk said her father died of natural causes at his Toronto home. He was 90.
Mr. Munk founded Barrick in 1983 and built it into the world’s largest gold mining company. Barrick now has 10,000 employees on five continents.
He was also one of Canada’s most significant philanthropists and donated nearly $300 million, including a $100 million donation last year to the Toronto General Hospital that is the largest single gift ever made to a Canadian hospital.
Mr. Munk also created the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto and founded the Munk debates, which brings the world’s top intellectuals toToronto for debates.
“He was a great Canadian,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Parliament. “He did much for our economy in many different ways and left a large legacy.”
Mr. Munk was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor, in 2008. He was also among 18 global business leaders chosen to beincluded on the New York Stock Exchange Wall of Innovators last year.
Mr. Munk was born in Budapest in 1927 and fled Hungary with his family in 1944 amid World War II. He arrived in Toronto with nothing but a suitcase.
He started his first company while a student at the University of Toronto, employing students to sell Christmas trees outside supermarkets. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and then founded a successful stereo console business that gained endorsements from Frank Sinatra and Oscar Peterson. He also built a hotel empire in the South Pacific and developed a marina for super yachts after buying a port in Montenegro.
Buthe said Barrick would be his legacy. In 1986, Barrick bought an underperforming mine in Nevada. Others didn’t see the potential, but it became one of the company’s core mines, producing over a million ounces a year. Ten years later, Barrick established itself as the world’s biggest gold producer after buying miner Placer Dome for $10.4 billion.