Ken and Margaret Torrance
By Laura Byrne Paquet, BJ/87
Photo: Jessica Deeks
Ken and Margaret Torrance’s philanthropic career has been a busy one. They began by funding a scholarship at the United Theological College in Montreal in honour of a relative. Then they funded four scholarships at Carleton and another at the school where they earned their first degrees, the University of Guelph. And, oh yes, they also helped sponsor a Canadian composer to create a work based on an Alice Munro short story, which premiered at the National Arts Centre in 2015.
“You get a taste for this kind of thing. I say giving is addictive,” explains Margaret.
Margaret is a Carleton alumna, MA/83, of what is now the School of Canadian and Indigenous Studies, and Ken is a professor emeritus in Carleton’s department of geography. However, their first donation to the university didn’t focus on either of those departments. Instead, 15 years ago, they spearheaded the endowment of a scholarship for students to curate a project at the Carleton University Art Gallery.
“The Ontario government was matching funds, and there was a window of opportunity that was about to close,” Margaret explains. “I looked for niches of need that weren’t being filled, and the art gallery seemed to be considered by some people to be a frill.” The Torrances encouraged a group of friends to contribute as well.
Thinking Bigger
Scholarship recipients use the funds for research, such as a trip to interview an artist. “You can dream bigger because there is a pocket of money,” Margaret says.
Other scholarships followed. For instance, when a life insurance company demutualized, Ken learned that a $1,000 policy his parents had taken out on him almost 40 years earlier was worth $5,000. Rather than pay capital gains on it, the couple funded a research scholarship for geography students. The net cost to them was $1,000, and matching funding raised the value of the scholarship fund to $10,000. “That sounded like a good deal to me,” says Ken.
A third scholarship provides funding for PhD students in geography, while the latest is for women in gender studies courses. “My husband and I know that endowing a scholarship is how you make change,” Margaret says. “An endowed scholarship will continue to benefit long after we’re dead and gone.”
The Torrances’ lives have ranged far beyond the Ontario farms where they grew up. They have lived in New York State, Norway, and California; Margaret also worked in international development in Thailand. “Education was life-changing for us and, basically, we’re giving back,” Margaret says.