Jack Matthews, 6 April 1928 – 7 September 2007 

Jack Matthews, founding Director of Pearson College, has died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 79.

Jack was awarded a Founder’s Medal in 2006 for the role he played in founding Pearson College in 1974 and in the College’s subsequent development, and he remained an Honorary Chair of the College. The founding generations of Pearson students always speak with great affection of Jack’s impact and the leadership he gave the College, introducing a distinctiveness which has stood the test of time – whether the Pearson tradition of village meetings or the many activities which brought students into contact with the campus’s magnificent forest and ocean-front environment. As one obituary notice put it, “The classrooms he really loved to share were the rivers, lakes, mountains and oceans of Canada where nature shaped his soul and nurtured his grand passion for life.”

 

After stepping down from Pearson College in 1981, Jack founded the Trent University International Program, which became a university destination for many UWC graduates and pioneered the importance of providing university level scholarship funding. He remained deeply interested in, and committed to Pearson College and the wider UWC movement, and had been touched when Pearson Chair Diana Maughan and Director David Hawley travelled to Ontario to present him with his Founder’s Medal last year.

Jack’s death will be deeply felt by his very many friends throughout the UWC movement. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Jane, his sons Angus (AC 69-71) and Tam, and four grandchildren.