Queen’s has announced that the School of Business will be renamed the Stephen J.R. Smith School of Business in recognition of the unprecedented $50 million donated by Stephen Smith.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Daniel Woolf unveiled the name at a ceremony in Goodes Hall on Thursday.

According to a Queen’s press release, Smith made his historic contribution with the intention of advancing the leadership position of Queen’s University in Canada and on a global scale. Smith’s donation of $50 million is the largest gift that’s been granted to any Canadian business school.

Stephen Smith is the Chairman, CEO and co-founder of First National Financial Corporation, Canada’s largest non-bank lender of residential and commercial mortgages. Smith, a Queen’s alumnus, graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in electrical engineering.

Smith is also a member of the Initiative Campaign cabinet, which the university describes as its most ambitious fundraising campaign. Prior to the $50 million contribution, Smith’s philanthropic efforts with the Initiative Campaign included the Stephen J.R. Smith Student Bursary and funding a Chair in Public Policy in the department of economics.

Smith’s donation comes as part of the campaign’s goal to raise $500 million to “ensure Queen’s future as a destination for exceptional people”.

“It’s going to be fabulous for faculty and for the students because of the number of endowed chairs and professorships and scholarships,” Principal Woolf told The Journal.

“The school is very much in a position of strength. This just actually rocketed it from the stratosphere into space.”

Woolf added that the donation will also be good for the university as a whole.

“As every single boat here rises, so does the whole fleet,” he said.

Students at the public announcement in Goodes Hall on Thursday morning. (Gillian Liu)