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Canwest News Service
Philanthropist and self-made businessman Tony Toldo, who died on Friday at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor, Ont., after a battle with cancer, was remembered as a man who put community and family ahead of anything else. He was 84.
In addition to running a series of successful businesses, Toldo gave millions to charities such as Hospice of Windsor and the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre, helped establish a medical school at the University of Windsor, supported the Windsor Symphony and also gave quietly to numerous other organizations, mostly involved with health care.
Toldo’s commitment to helping raise funds for a medical school at the university resulted in the school naming the main health education centre building in his honour.
Toldo was recognized for his charitable endeavours in 2007 when he was named to the Order of Canada.
Toldo came to Canada with his sister and mother in 1934 after his father, Alessandro, had already moved to this area from Italy to start a new life.
At age 20, he started work at Olsonite, a bathroom fittings and automotive parts company. By 25, he was plant manager and when he left in 1980 he had managed all eight of the company’s plants in Canada and the U.S.
In 1995, he had acquired a minority interest in Center Tool & Mould and took control of the company two years later. In 1964, he established Telso Products Ltd. which he later sold to Olsonite.
But it was in the 1980s, when Toldo was already in his mid-50s, that his business ventures really took off.
He established three Centoco facilities, Peter Anthony Designs, a joint venture with Germany-basedKolbenschmidt AG and Centaero Aviation Services. All told, he employed more than 1,000 people in three countries.
