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Speirs Medal presented to Michael Goldbloom ’69 at first event in newly completed Coristine Hall

By Richard Wills, Publications Editor
The setting was perfect. Michael Goldbloom ’69, who, as chairman of the Selwyn House Board of Directors, steered the school through its recent construction and renovation project, received the Speirs Medal on November 22 at the first school function to employ all the features of the beautiful new auditorium he helped create.

The school’s highest honour to a non-student, the Speirs Medal is presented each year at Founder’s Day to the person deemed to have made a significant contribution to Selwyn House over the years.

In typically modest fashion, Mr. Goldbloom gave credit to all the other members of the team who helped give the school a new face and functionality. But, the elegant ambience of the new Coristine Hall—which only months ago was a drab high-school gym—made it impossible for nearly 250 guests to overlook Mr. Goldbloom’s contribution to the school.

Long before the groundbreaking for the new Speirs Building in 2002, Mr. Goldbloom led the Board of Directors in achieving a fundraising goal they had been warned would be impossible to reach.

Michael’s parents, Victor and Sheila Goldbloom, were present on November 22 to see their son receive the honour they, themselves, had received ten years earlier. In introducing Michael, Board Member John Carsley pointed that, as Montreal’s Director of Public Health, he regularly meets with boards headed up by the senior Goldblooms, still sits on the Selwyn House Board with Michael’s brother, Jonathan, and has other regular contacts with Goldbloom family members. “You know that when there’s a Goldbloom around, some community good will be forthcoming,” said Mr. Carsley.

Michael and his wife, Fiona Macleod, recently returned to Montreal from Toronto, where he had spent three years as publisher of the Toronto Star. Prior to that, he had been well known in Québec as publisher of the Montreal Gazette for seven years, founding and executive member of Alliance Quebec for seven years (two years as President), and President and CEO of the Montreal YMCA for 13 years. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Ville Marie Social Services Centre and the Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, as well as serving on the Québec selection committee for the Rhodes Scholarship. The Goldblooms are now returning to their home town, where Michael will head the Government Relations and Inter-Institutional Affairs Office at his other alma mater, McGill University. He has also been appointed a Senior Fellow in Media and Public Policy with the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada and Media@McGill, which the university describes as “a hub of research, scholarship and public outreach on issues and controversies in media, technology and culture.”

“Selwyn House School is very much a critical part of what makes Montreal home for Fiona and me,” Mr. Goldbloom told the audience. “Selwyn House has been a very important institution in my life, and Robert Speirs was a very important influence on me. So it’s a special honour to receive the medal named in Dr. Sepirs’ honour in a campus with a building that now bears his name.”

As he had when speaking to Selwyn House students in an assembly that morning, Mr. Goldbloom confided that he was a “mediocre” student at Selwyn House. “The school put in an extra special effort to help me succeed,” he said. “I don’t think that I was exceptional in that regard.”

“Selwyn House has changed a lot since 1931, when the first of three generations of Goldblooms came to the school,” he continued. “Latin and British history are no longer mandatory subjects at the school. Cricket is no longer a required sport. French is, fortunately, a critical part of the curriculum, and our sports teams not only win games, they win championships. So a lot has changed. But what has not changed is the school’s commitment to helping each of its students achieve his full potential.”

“I owe a great deal to the school for giving me the tools and the confidence to succeed,” Mr. Goldbloom said, confessing that English was his poorest subject until he was inspired by SHS teacher Ted Philips, who, he said, “opened up for me a world of words and literature that sent me off on a path in which the ability to write clearly and effectively has been the cornerstone of my career and the source of enormous pleasure.”

“I owed an enormous amount to the school,” Mr. Goldbloom said, “so when [Previous Board Chairman] Tom Birks asked me to join the board, I really did welcome the opportunity to give something back to the school, which had given so much to me.”

“I’d like to conclude simply by saying how pleased I am to know that, now that the brick and mortar are all in place, the focus of the school is now turning to building an endowment. We need to ensure that as broad a cross-section as possible of outstanding students will be able to become part of this remarkable community.”

“I’d like to thank all of you for being here, and I would like to join with all of you tonight in celebrating the fact that Selwyn House School now has the facilities worthy of the high quality of education that the school continues to provide,” Mr. Goldbloom concluded.

At this year’s Founder’s Day celebrations the school unveiled commemorative plaques that will hang in the Lucas Building. First was a plaque honouring Christopher Coristine, a Selwyn House Old Boy who died tragically in the sinking of the brigantine Albatross, a schooling ship that sank in the Caribbean in 1961. Chris Coristine put his own life in peril that day by saving a younger fellow passenger. A painting of the Albatross, along with a plaque honouring Mr. Coristine, will hang in the newly renovated Coristine Hall, which is named in his memory.

As another feature of Founder’s Day, the school’s Agora, located in the Speirs Building, was officially renamed in the honour of Alan P. Rossy ’79 and his wife, Roula, who have committed themselves to endowing this room in perpetuity. Also, the Elementary Science lab is being named in the honour of Francesco and Marisa Bellini, who donated generously to renovate and re-equip the school’s McConnell Science Labs.

Another landmark Founder’s Day ceremony recognized the service of seven former staff members who retired between 2000 and 2006 after contributing at least 25 years’ service to the school. Virginia Ferguson, Barry Williams, Phil Litvack, Rob Wearing, Ellen Pinchuk, Elsie Massicotte and Lisette Elbaz were recognized for their service with plaques that will hang in the Lucas Building.

Headmaster Will Mitchell also paid tribute to the approximately 300 parents who volunteered last year to work on some 60 projects. From their efforts, the Argyle Shop donated $20,000 to a cause to be named later; the Gryphon Sale donated $3,000 to the Nancy Pitfield Scholarship fund; the annual Terry Fox Run raised $33,000 for cancer research; the Shave to Save campaign donated $17,000 to fight breast cancer; and $112,000 was raised from the school’s exclusive premiere of The Da Vinci Code.

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