JMSB alumnus thanks school

barbara black


Seen on the 11th floor of the EV building, where a plaque will remain until the JMSB building is built, are Jean-Paul Morin and his wife, Carmen. On either side of the couple are their children, Nicole Morin and Paul Morin.

Photo by andrew dobrowolskyj

Jean-Paul Morin has given $100,000 to the John Molson School of Business in appreciation for its role in his own business success.

In the late 1940s, Morin was an entrepreneur with an idea: a secretarial college in Montreal. He decided he needed a business degree. As the breadwinner for a family of four children, the only way he could do it was part-time in the evenings at Sir George Williams University.

Morin graduated in 1952 with his Bachelor of Commerce degree, and never looked back. He founded LaSalle College in 1959.

Now it has 50 campuses in 21 countries around the world. It is designated a specialized fashion centre by the Ministry of Education, and together with UQAM, offers a bachelor’s degree in administration and fashion design. Morin received an honorary doctorate from Concordia in 2003.

“Mr. Morin’s experience is typical of many people from his generation,” said Michel Magnan, Associate Dean of the JMSB.

“My own father, when he first came to Montreal, took evening classes at Sir George Williams. They and others like them wanted to study business, but no other institution offered them the opportunity to study while they worked full-time.”

There will be a plaque bearing Jean-Paul Morin’s name in the new John Molson School of Business when it is built. In the meantime, the plaque is in a spacious room in the visual arts side of the EV building on the seventh floor.