Allen Thomas LAMBERT

LAMBERT, Allen Thomas, O.C.
Peacefully and unexpectedly, at home in Toronto, on Friday, October 25, 2002. Born in Regina on December 28, 1911 to Willison Andrew Lambert of Mount Forest, Ontario and Sarah Barber Lambert of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was raised in Victoria and joined the bank of Toronto in 1927, serving in a variety of capacities in British Columbia before being transferred east to Brockville in 1940. During World War II he served as Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy on Corvette duty in the North Atlantic. Returning to the Bank after the war he became branch manager in Yellowknife in 1947, and subsequently was placed in a series of positions of increasing responsibility. He always remained grateful to a number of bank executives who challenged and encouraged him in his various postings, and the greatest pleasure of his later career was in providing the same encouragement to others. Following the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank in 1955, he became General Manager of The Toronto-Dominion Bank, and president in 1960. During the 1960's, he was responsible for the construction of the TD Centre, an important contribution to the regeneration of downtown Toronto. He took a keen interest in international banking and was the first Canadian to be elected president of the International Monetary Conference. He retired as CEO in 1977 and as Chairman of the Board in 1978. He continued as consultant to the Bank, sharing offices with other retired executives, and was fully active up to the time of his death after seventy-five years of service. Since 1983, he has had an active and fulfilling second career as consultant and director with the Brascan group. He headed the Royal Commission into Financial Management and Accountability, 1976-1979. He was a strong supporter of education and received honourary degrees from Wilfred Laurier, York, Simon Fraser and McMaster universities. His interest in international trade and relations, especially in the Pacific, continued and he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Sacred Treasure of Japan in 1992. Deeply loved and admired, he leaves his wife and partner of fifty-two years, Marion Grace (nee Kotchapaw), daughter Anne (Tom Welch), son Bill (Janice Seger), grandchildren Henry and Katharine, and his brother Murray (Helen). He was predeceased by brothers Harry, George and Bill and sisters Mae and Dorothy. The family will receive friends at the HUMPHREY FUNERAL HOME - A. W. MILES CHAPEL, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Eglinton Avenue East), from 5-8 p.m. on Tuesday, October 29. Service at TIMOTHY EATON MEMORIAL CHURCH, 230 St. Clair Avenue East, Toronto on Wednesday, at two o'clock. Private interment at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Following the service everyone is invited to join with the family for a reception at the York Club, 135 St. George Street.