David Angus ’59
Montreal, Quebec CANADA

At-Large Candidate

“At Princeton I learned about diversity, the virtues of a pluralistic society and of tolerance for different ideas, cultures and beliefs, all of which has helped me greatly in my public life and community service,” says Senator David Angus of Montreal, Canada. A member of the Canadian global law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP for over forty years, Angus has also been very active in politics, serving as a Member of the Canadian Senate since 1993.

Angus’s path towards law and politics via Princeton was interrupted briefly in 1954 due to his father’s perceptive insistence that, “You are still too young and immature to benefit fully from a Princeton education. You should ship out as an apprentice in the British Merchant Marine for a year.” So Angus spent fifteen months at sea “garnering extraordinary life experiences which certainly enhanced my ability to appreciate and benefit from the Princeton experience!”

As an undergraduate and following his graduation from Princeton, Angus worked as a reporter for the Montreal Gazette and was set upon a career in journalism. However, a brief stint covering the law courts soon led him into law; he enrolled in McGill Law School in November 1959, graduating with First Class Honours in 1962. He joined Stikeman Elliott as an articling student in 1962, eventually became partner and pursued a lifetime career in admiralty and insurance law. He achieved international recognition in his specialty and served a six-year term on the Executive Council of the Comité Maritime International, the leading private sector international maritime law organization. He served three years as President of the Canadian Maritime Law Association and is now an Honorary Life Member. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1984, a significant recognition for a Canadian barrister.

Angus’s second career—his political one—has roots in the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, he says, where his “interest in politics, especially the financing of political parties,” was first kindled. After graduation, he joined Canada’s Progressive Conservative Party and remains very active with its successor, the Conservative Party of Canada, and is Chairman Emeritus of its fundraising arm. At present, he is Chairman of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce and a member of the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament and the Committee on Conflict of Interest for Senators.

Angus has significant experience as a director of public and private corporations, including 19 years on the Board of Air Canada. Today, he is non-executive chair of the McGill University Health Centre. “This has enabled me to focus on and devote my energies to Canada’s healthcare system, which is undergoing dynamic change,” comments Angus. “I am deeply committed to and fulfilled by this community service experience.” Angus has also been involved in a leadership role with St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Homes for seniors since 1963.

Princeton has also been a recipient of Angus’s time. He has been president and a member of the Princeton Alumni Association of Canada, a director of the Canadian Princeton Alumni Fund and a founder of and lecturer for the Canadian Studies Program at Princeton, to name only a few of his roles. In his spare time, he devotes himself to two of his other passions, salmon fishing and golf. “When I was at Princeton,” he muses, “we all pretty much figured that 70 would mark the end of the line. Yet, here I am today, full of energy, vigour and curiosity, seeking and ready for new challenges. How times have changed!”