David Thomson receives distinguished entrepreneur award

Thomson Reuters chairman David Thomson (photo) has been selected as 2015 recipient of the International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award (IDEA) given each year by a Canadian university.

The accolade, presented by the Associates at the University of Manitoba, recognises excellence in entrepreneurship and commerce.

"The IDEA program is about global leaders and people who not only excelled in business, but have a real focus on philanthropy and community well-being," said Paul Soubry, co-chairman of the IDEA committee. "He runs a global business with a global reach and he has invested and believed in our community."

Thomson, 57, is Canada’s richest person. His business interests apart from the news and information group founded by his grandfather Roy Thomson include the Toronto Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest national newspaper.

He is the third Baron Thomson of Fleet, an hereditary British peerage created for his grandfather.

Thomson is an avid art collector and owns the world’s top collection of works by English Romantic painter John Constable. He is patron of the Art Gallery of Toronto and he co-owns the Winnipeg Jets' ice hockey team. ■