Michel Saucier: A 1.5 million dollar gift to the University of Montreal

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Michel Saucier, founder of pharmaceutical giant Sandoz Canada, has donated 1.5 million dollars to the University of Montreal’s Faculty of Music. The Fonds de bourses en violon Marcel-Saucier is the biggest scholarship in the history of the Faculty.

In a YouTube video produced by the University of Montreal, Saucier explains that the donation was motivated by his desire to honor his father, Marcel Saucier.

“Associating his name to a perennial scholarship has allowed me to pay permanent homage to my father’s memory. So that’s what we did, and I’m really proud of it. I’d have loved to have this happen while he was still among us, but at the time circumstances didn’t allow it. However, now, it’s with great pleasure that we have established this scholarship.”

According to Saucier, his father was an exceptionally talented violinist, but the life of an artist then was no easier than it is today. In 1950, after many years of teaching violin, his father decided, at 38, to undertake a bachelor of music at the University of Montreal in piano and violin in order to increase his student base. This allowed him to pay his son Michel’s studies all the way to the doctoral level at the University of Montreal.

Saucier and his wife decided to make a donation to the University of Montreal, and specifically to the Faculty of Music, given what the programme meant for his father.

The Marcel-Saucier Scholarship winners for 2013 are: Daphnée Sincennes Richard, Coline Berland, Simon Alexandre, Patrice Calixte and Stéphane Tétreault.

Translated by David-Marc Newman