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David Kent Pecaut CM[1] (September 14, 1955 – December 14, 2009) was an American-born Canadian civic leader. He co-founded and sat on the board of the Toronto City Summit Alliance.
David Pecaut | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 14, 1955 |
| Died | December 14, 2009 (aged 54) |
| Resting place | Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto |
Personal life
editPecaut was born to Richard and Dorothy (Kent) Pecaut[2] and was raised in Sioux City, Iowa. He attended West High School before going to Harvard University (BA Sociology 1977) and University of Sussex (MA Philosophy 1978).[3] He returned to Sioux City to work for Terra Chemicals before moving to Toronto in the 1980s.[3]
Pecaut was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in November 2009.[1] He died on December 14, 2009, at his Toronto residence due to colorectal cancer.[4] He was 54 years old and is survived by his wife Helen Burstyn and their children Lauren Burstyn Lawrence and her husband Matt, of Los Angeles, CA; Amy Burstyn, Sarah Pecaut and Bec Pecaut of Toronto;[5] a brother Dan Pecaut and his wife Kay, of Sioux City, Iowa; a sister Stacey Gerhart of Sioux City, Iowa; a sister Mary Pecaut and her husband Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, living in Morocco; brother-in-law Rubin Burstyn and wife Judi Bodnoff; and their nieces, nephews and extended family members.[2]
Professional life
editPecaut began his consulting career as special assistant to the president of Terra Chemicals in Sioux City. He moved to Toronto and joined the Canada Consulting Group (CCG) in the early 1980s and became a partner at Telesis in Rhode Island in 1984. He rejoined CCG in 1988, later leading the negotiations that merged the firm with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 1993 and found BCG Canada.[6]
As a senior partner and managing director of BCG, he helped in building BCG's global strategy, e-commerce and public policy practices. David was an avid supporter of Toronto and devoted himself increasingly to civic entrepreneurship in recent years, referring to his city-building activities as one of the greatest highlights of his life.
Pecaut drove the creation of what is now the LEAP Pecaut Centre for Social Impact, making BCG Canada a co-founder along with EY, Google, McCarthy Tétrault, The Offord Group and H+K Strategies.[7]
He commanded the formation of the Toronto City Summit Alliance in 2002 and inspired the developing of initiatives like DiverseCity, the Emerging Leaders Network, the Toronto Region Research Alliance, Greening Greater Toronto and Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults (MISWAA). He also convened the Toronto Alliance in 2003 to renew tourism after SARS, sparked the formation of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) and initiated an award winning mentorship partnership program. One of the civic projects that excited him most was Luminato, the Toronto-based international arts festival that he co-founded with Tony Gagliano in 2007. In 1996, David also had the vision to create Career Edge Organization which helps university and college graduates, people with disabilities and newcomers to Canada overcome various barriers to launching their careers through a paid internship program.
Legacy
editPecaut Square, originally Metro Square, is a public space located between Metro Hall and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. It was renamed after David Pecaut by a unanimous Toronto City Council vote in April 2011.[8][9]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "David Kent Pecaut, C.M., M.A., B.A." Governor General of Canada. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
- ^ a b "Legacy.com Obituary: David Kent Pecaut". Legacy.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
- ^ a b "David Pecaut Obituary (2009) - Toronto Star". Legacy.com.
- ^ Martin, Sandra (December 1, 2009). "Toronto visionary David Pecaut succumbs to cancer". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
- ^ Knelman, Martin (December 1, 2009). "David Pecaut, 54: 'Greatest mayor Toronto never had'". Toronto Star. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
- ^ "Work & Life at BCG's Toronto Office – Canada". bcg.com. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
- ^ "LEAP | Pecaut Centre for Social Impact". LEAP | Pecaut Centre for Social Impact. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
- ^ Moloney, Paul (April 12, 2011). "Metro Square renamed Pecaut Square to honour late city builder". Toronto Star. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
- ^ Knelman, Martin (April 7, 2011). "City renames Metro Square to honour David Pecaut". Toronto Star. Retrieved April 7, 2011.