Sir Robert Falconer
Plot 18, Lot 268
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Canada was a little less than five months away from Confederation when Robert Alexander Falconer was born in the same city in which the country was born, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. His birth date was February 10, 1867. He obtained his early education in Trinidad where his father was minister of the Presbyterian Church. He furthered his education in England, Scotland, and on the continent. He lectured at Pinehill Theological College in Halifax, becoming principal in 1904. Three years later he was appointed the University of Toronto’s fifth president, a position he held for a quarter of a century retiring due to health problems in 1932. It was during his university tenure that the University of Toronto was modernised and such new structures as Convocation Hall, Hart House, and the Banting Institute were erected. Falconer was knighted by King George V in 1917 and also took a leading part in the creation of the United Church of Canada in 1925. Falconer died at his residence, 81 Glengowan Road on November 4, 1943.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded