Sludge Watch ==> Canadian Environmental Philanthropist Murdered in Toronto

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

This wonderful man was a brilliant, funny,generous,  tireless advocate for 
the environment.
His murder is an inexplicable horrifying tragedy.




...............................................

Why was Glen Davis a target?

Glen Davis, 66, is seen last year at the Firth River, Yukon. The millionaire 
donor to wildlife causes was shot to death Friday at about 2 p.m. in a 
parking garage near Eglinton Ave. E. and Mount Pleasant

Why was Glen Davis a target?
Slain man prominent

Man killed in garage  He cheated death twice, escaping a 1983 airplane fire, 
then a 2005 beating that police say may be linked to his slaying

May 21, 2007 07:31 AM
Tamara Cherry
Staff Reporter



Glen Davis was born into wealth, and until he survived a 1983 airplane fire 
that claimed 23 lives it seemed he was content to continue growing the $100 
million empire his father left him.

But surviving that crash may have sparked a turnaround, prompting the 
Toronto businessman to begin a new focus on philanthropy, conservation and 
the environment, a life of giving cut short by a gunman's bullet in a north 
Toronto parking garage Friday.

Toronto police are continuing the search for a suspect, but admit they have 
few leads apart from surveillance footage showing a man leaving the garage, 
near Eglinton Ave. E. and Mount Pleasant Rd., at about 2 p.m. Friday, about 
the same time Davis, 66, was killed.

The gunman – who police say may have deliberately targeted Davis – ended 
both Davis's life and a remarkable record of giving millions of dollars to 
conservation and environmental causes including the World Wildlife Fund 
Canada and the Sierra Club.

Davis had cheated death twice before.

On June 2, 1983, he became one of just 18 survivors when a fire broke out in 
the bathroom of a Toronto-bound Air Canada jet, forcing an emergency landing 
at Greater Cincinnati Airport that claimed the lives of several fellow 
Canadians, including Toronto television magnate George Curtis Mathes Jr. and 
Hamilton-born folk star Stan Rogers.

Davis also survived a beating with a baseball bat in December 2005, when 
someone attacked him outside his Toronto office. His attacker took off in a 
van after witnesses intervened. Nothing was stolen during the attack and a 
suspect was never arrested, homicide Det. Wayne Fowler said yesterday. But 
police are investigating a possible connection between that beating and his 
death two years later.

Friends say the Air Canada fire may have given Davis a new focus.

It came four years after his father Nelson, 72, died of a heart attack while 
relaxing in the swimming pool of his winter home in Arizona, leaving his son 
a vast fortune.

Nelson M. Davis, a long-time friend and adviser of Conrad Black, amassed his 
fortune mainly from transportation and trucking interests. He was chair of 
Toronto-based holding company Argus and chair and president of N. M. Davis 
Corp. Ltd., which he left to his only child.

Davis carried on his father's dealings full-time until about two years after 
his brush with death.

Friends say it may have been a combination of that life-changing experience 
and meeting Monte Hummel – current president of World Wildlife Fund – at 
that same time, that turned Davis to philanthropy.

"I've heard that story from several different people," Stephen Hazell, 
executive director of Sierra Club of Canada said in an interview, adding 
Davis was "not a guy who sought the limelight" and didn't speak about the 
1983 incident to many people.

"I think Monte Hummel has played a great role in encouraging Glen in his 
philanthropy."

Elizabeth May, a friend of Davis and leader of the Green Party of Canada, 
said yesterday that "about a third of his time he spent in wilderness 
trekking in remote locations, and about a third of his time was devoted to 
what business dealings he had that remained and about a third of his time 
was dedicated to philanthropy to a number of causes – primarily 
environmental causes, but also the Canadian women Olympic rowers.



"He largely took his father's fortune and liquidated it in order to be a 
full-time philanthropist. He was an extraordinarily generous person," May 
said. "Everybody is just devastated. The entire conservation movement in 
this country is going to be just devastated."

"I think it's fair comment to say he gives away millions of dollars a year," 
Hazell said. "He's been probably the greatest wilderness philanthropist in 
Canada over the past number of years, although not many people know about 
him."

The conservation movement "was what spoke to him," May said. "He liked 
nothing better than to be somewhere in the wilderness where there was no 
sign of humanity as far as the eye could see."

In addition to countless charitable donations, Davis used his money to take 
friends on expeditions they'd otherwise be unable to afford, May said.

"He was not just a donor, but a friend, a very good friend to so many of us 
in the environmental movement. It just tears a hole in our hearts and the 
whole movement."

Barry Artiste, a contributor to NowPublic.com news network, wrote on his 
blog Davis was "quiet, reserved and certainly not flashy, a semi-retired 
businessman who, if you passed on the streets of Toronto, you would not give 
a second look as you went about your day."

Davis, he said, "preferred to stay silently in the background and work 
behind the scenes," as he donated his millions.

Davis was pronounced dead in hospital after he was found collapsed on the 
bottom level of the two-level parking garage. He wasn't next to his car when 
he was found, Fowler said.

"There were a number of people in that underground, coming and going, going 
to their cars," yet no one reported hearing gunshots, Fowler said. "When we 
get into echoes and underground garages, it may sound totally different than 
a gunshot would normally sound," he said.

"This is not a high crime area," he pointed out. "Obviously there was a 
reason why Mr. Davis was selected versus someone else going to their car at 
that point in time."

Research for a 2005 Toronto Star column revealed that there was only one 
fatal shooting in 15 years in a 3.5-kilometre radius around Mount Pleasant 
Rd. and Lawrence Ave.

The parking garage remained closed through yesterday as a forensics team 
examined the "extensive scene."

Surveillance video images were released of a "person of interest" seen 
entering and leaving the garage by foot. The man, 25 to 30 years old, spent 
"a period of time" in the garage before leaving, Fowler said.

The man, standing about 5 foot 8, is seen wearing a black baseball cap in 
two of the images, as well as a blue sweater, waist-length dark hooded 
jacket, dark pants, and white shoes.

Davis leaves his wife Mary Alice. Anyone with information about his death is 
asked to call 416-808-7418 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477. Or 
click www.222tips