Edmund Charles Bovey

Class of 1982

Edmund Charles Bovey is credited for having transformed a relatively unknown natural gas company into Norcen Energy Resources Limited, a leading Canadian-owned integrated energy company. Having been formed to distribute gas to communities in Northern Ontario, Bovey first joined the company in 1958. Several decades later, with assets in excess of $1 billion, the company owes its success to Bovey’s leadership. However, Ed Bovey is acknowledged as far more than just a business leader.

A Chancellor at Guelph University from 1989 to 1990, Bovey is well known for his boundless energy, his skill in relating to people, and his concern for the community. This is demonstrated through the many voluntary boards on which he has served. Ed Bovey is a great supporter of the arts, as a past President and trustee of the Art Gallery of Ontario and as a Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Roy Thomson Hall has also benefited from his dedication to the arts, and in 1974 he became the founding Chairman of the Council for Business and the Arts in Canada.

Edmund Bovey was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1978 for his dedication to community and cultural activities in Toronto. He was promoted to an Officer in 1988. There is also a national award named after Bovey, given to recognize individuals in the business community who have given their time and money to support the arts.

Bovey passed away in 1990, and is remembered as a man who was deeply engaged with the world around him. He once said, “The modern corporation has evolved into a social as well as an economic institution. It has developed ideals and additional important responsibilities.” In other words, Bovey believed not only in corporate responsibility, but in corporate contribution: to the community, to the arts, and to individuals.