L.R. “Red” Wilson, a Canadian Journey

“Red Wilson is a modest, low-profile, and unassuming Canadian leader and icon who has made a remarkable and lasting contribution to Canada in higher education, business, and public service. His secret sauce is his innate sense of humour and his unique ability to unite people in common cause to solve difficult problems. An incredible role model par excellence.” - Anthony (Tony) Fell O.C. LL.D, Retired Deputy Chair, Royal Bank of Canada and University Health Network
 

“In a fractured world where you’re often either pro-business or pro-government, Red Wilson understood and respected both, and how each wove the fabric of a nation. This is an insightful book underlining the character and the making of a great Canadian who forged a path through the foreign service, to the public service, and to the apex of business, all with a concern for a civil, prosperous country. Lynton Ronald ‘Red’ Wilson: the best of Canada." - Howard Green, Four-Time Bestselling Author, Founding Anchor at BNN, and Executive Presentation Coach

“Red Wilson is a Canadian legend. Reading this comprehensive and nicely illustrated biography, you will fully understand why. But this isn’t just history. His motto, while derived from Tennyson’s Ulysses, and lived out in a different context, could not be more relevant today: ‘To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.’” - Matthias Kipping, Professor of Strategic Management and Richard E. Waugh Chair in Business History, Schulich School of Business, York University
 

"Whether in business affairs, university postings, or government service, Red Wilson served each and every one with energy and enthusiasm." - Rod McQueen, Author of The Eatons: The Rise and Fall of Canada’s Royal Family

 

“I first met Red Wilson when he was a deputy minister at Queen’s Park more than four decades ago. Over the years, I’ve watched him contribute to Canada as very few have. What’s made Red’s contributions so important and distinctive is that they’ve happened in both the private and the public sectors. If I can put it this way, he’s done well, but he’s also done good. And how he’s done it can be an example to the rest of us on how to live a meaningful life and make Canada better in the process. Red’s path to greatness is a story worth telling and reading, and now I’m glad we can. Well done, Dimitry Anastakis.” - Steve Paikin, Host of, The Paikin Podcast and Co-host of the #onpoli podcast

 

“With a deft writing touch, and a nose for memorable anecdotes, historian Dimitry Anastakis chronicles a great Canadian life. The biography of business leader Red Wilson meticulously charts a dizzyingly varied career, set against the canvas of post–-Second World War Canada, with all its optimism, achievement, and, at times, disappointment. The book is jam-packed with important names and big jobs, but the writer always takes us back to the essential ingredient of family.” - Gordon Pitts, Author of Unicorn in the Woods: How East Coast Geeks and Dreamers Are Changing the Game