In Memoriam: Donald Moggridge

Dear Members of the Trinity Community,

We are deeply saddened to let you know of the death of distinguished economic historian Donald E. Moggridge on April 10, 2021.

An alumnus of the College, Don Moggridge (Class of 1965) received an Honorary Fellowship at Matriculation Convocation in 2015 for his outstanding contributions to the modern economic history and the history of economic thought, as well as his distinguished teaching and administrative career at the University of Toronto and Trinity College.

You can read more about his life and career in the Globe & Mail obituary published this weekend (see below).

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Don’s family, friends and colleagues. He will be fondly remembered by the Trinity College community.

Yours,

Mayo Moran
Provost & Vice-Chancellor

DONALD EDWARD MOGGRIDGE (1943 – 2021)

Don Moggridge, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto, died peacefully in Toronto on April 10, 2021. Born on May 25, 1943 in Windsor, Ontario, the first child of William Robert Moggridge, a metallurgist with Ford of Canada, and Doris Livingston Moggridge, a librarian, Don grew up in Windsor until his parents moved to Don Mills in 1959 where he attended York Mills Collegiate.

His parents had met at the University of Toronto when his father was an engineering student and his mother studying English and Philosophy at Victoria College. He followed them to the University of Toronto, but not to Engineering or to Victoria College, choosing instead Trinity College, where he lived in residence and made lifelong friends including David Beatty and the late Ivan McFarlane.

On graduating in 1965 with an Hons B.A. in Political Science and Economics, he went to King’s College Cambridge with a Grainger Scholarship. Don stayed in Cambridge for ten years, becoming a Fellow of Clare College in 1967 and the Fellows’ Wine Steward in 1972, a University Assistant Lecturer in 1971 and a University Lecturer in 1972. He married Janet Skelton in 1967 but they separated when Janet returned to Toronto in 1973 and later divorced.

The publication of Don’s doctoral research (The Return to Gold 1925 in 1969 and British Monetary Policy 1924-1931 in 1972) immediately established him as a distinguished international economic historian. By 1969 he had also become an editor of The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes. He was to remain an editor for twenty years, responsible for 24 of the 30 volumes, and will always be remembered as a major historian of economics. He was made a Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society in 2008. Don was appointed a full professor at the U of T in 1974. As well as continuing his work on the Keynes edition he wrote a scholarly biography of Keynes and later one of the Canadian economist Harry Johnson.

He became a fellow of Trinity College in 1987. During 1985-2000 he served as an Associate Dean of the School of Graduate Studies (twice, the first time alongside Professor Paul Perron who shared his interest in wine), an Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science and Vice-Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. Trinity College honoured him with an Honorary Fellowship of the College in 2015.

Don continued to spend time in Cambridge, at Clare again in 1979-81, St John’s College as the Benians Fellow 1988-9 and from 1989 with a small house adjacent to the University cricket ground. In both Cambridge and Toronto he enjoyed wine, opera, music, travelling (including several freighter crossings of the North Atlantic from and to Montreal), watching rugby and walking, especially on the Bruce Trail. After moving from Cabbagetown to The Beach he became a member of the Balmy Beach Club in 2004.

Don will be greatly missed by friends and colleagues around the world, as he is by Sue Howson, his partner (and colleague) for 45 years, and his sister Kathy Moggridge of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Many friends and others have been of great help and support; Sue particularly wishes to thank Arlene who provided Don with care and company through the long months of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hoped to arrange a memorial gathering in the coming months.

Published in The Globe and Mail from Sep. 18 to Sep. 22, 2021.

Categories: Alumni; In Memoriam