Thomson, Shirley Cull, 1930-2010 : Dr. Shirley Lavinia Thomson (1930-2010) : a cultural administrator and a leading figure in the Canadian cultural community.
Dr. Shirley L. Thomson, daughter of Walter Cull (1897-1990) and Edith Mae McKenzie (1897-1990), was raised in St.Marys Ontario. She earned a bachelor's degree in history at the University of Western Ontario in1952, a master's degree in art history at the University of Maryland in 1974, and a PhD in art history at McGill University in 1981.
Early on in her career, Thomson worked as a secondary shool teacher in Spencerville, Ont. (1952-1953), then as an English language teacher at the Lycée de la Baule les Pins in France (1954-1955), as an editor for the Conference Service of NATO's International Secretariat (1955-1961), as Assistant Secretary General of the World University Service in Toronto, Ont. (1961-1964), as Assistant Secretary General of the Canadian National Commission for UNESCO (1964-1967) and as Assistant to Senator Thérèse Casgrain (acting as ghost writer for her memoirs published in 1974).
Dr. Thomson then occupied a series of key positions in Canada's cultural community. The most important were : Director of the McCord Museum in Montreal (1982-1985), Secretary-general of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (1985-1987), Director of the National Gallery of Canada (1987-1997), Director of the Canada Council for the Arts (1998-2002), and Chair of the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (2003-2007). During her career, she was invited to collaborate with various organizations. She was a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Canadian Studies(1998-2005); a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lewis Perimban Award for International Development (1998-2006); a founding member and chair of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) (2000-2006); a member of the Fellows Committee and chair of the Awards Committee of the Canadian Museums Association (2000-2005); a member of the Advisory Council for the David J. Azrieli Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in Architecture at Carleton University (2005); and a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (2004-2006).
Dr. Shirley L. Thomson received many awards and honours in recognition of her distinguished career as a cultural administrator and for her leading role in the arts in Canada. She was named Chevalier and Officier des arts et des lettres by the Government of France (1990 and 2002), Officer and Companion of the Order of Canada (1994 and 2001), and Fellow of the Canadian Museum Association (2000). She was named winner of the ninth annual Governor-General's Award in Visual and Media Arts for her work as a cultural administrator, gallery director and arts advocate (2008) and to the Order of Ontario (2010). She received ten honorary degrees from numerous universities : University of Ottawa (1988), McGill University (1989), Mount Allison University and University of Western Ontario (1990), University of Windsor (1996), Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (1999), Concordia University (2001), York University (2002), University of British Columbia (2005), and Mount Saint Vincent University (2006).
Dr. Thomson died in Ottawa on August 10, 2010.
