Terrence J. Donnelly is a philanthropist who has generously donated more than $60 million to support the healthcare field in Canada. His donations cover health care in three key areas: clinical care, medical research and the education and training of healthcare professionals.

Donnelly was born in 1936, in London, Ontario. He graduated with honours in Business and Administration from the University of Western Ontario in 1957. Three years later, he graduated from law school at Osgoode Hall as a medalist, a prize awarded to the top students. In 1962, he was called to the Bar of Ontario. Donnelly co-founded a law firm, Donnelly and Daigneault, where he worked for 35 years, retiring in 1997.

While still at Osgoode Hall, Donnelly met Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). His firm helped KFC close a deal on a house in Mississauga. Donnelly also served on the Board of Directors of KFC as the chain expanded in Canada. The two men developed a friendship that lasted until the Colonel’s death in 1980. Donnelly credits Sanders with shaping his philosophy about philanthropy and teaching him that it’s important to leave a meaningful legacy.

Donnelly’s legacy is healthcare. After retiring, he helped many healthcare organizations through volunteering and philanthropy. His many donations to organizations, such as the Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario and St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, helped provide family-centred care to women and children, and care for patients’ recovery after complex heart surgery.

One of Terrence Donnelly’s major contributions to healthcare was the establishment of the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (Donnelly Centre). The Donnelly Centre started as the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research (BBDMR), named after Drs. Frederick G. Banting and Charles H. Best, who discovered insulin in 1921. BBDMR was the first department at the University of Toronto where faculty could focus only on research, without additional teaching duties. BBDMR's initial focus was on diabetes research, but it soon expanded to include other areas. In 2005, thanks to public and private investments and Terrence Donnelly’s donation, the Donnelly Centre was created and eventually merged with BBDMR. Today, the Donnelly Centre is home to more than 30 world-renowned researchers and 500 research staff members.

In 2011, together with fellow Canadian businessman and philanthropist Carlo Fidani, Donnelly supported the establishment of the Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex at the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus, where 54 undergraduate medical students are trained every year. This donation, in his view, completed his arc of strategic giving. “At St. Michael’s Hospital, it’s clinical. Research is at the Centre for Cellular and Biomedical Research. And here, there will be the training of a new generation of doctors who will go on to treat patients after I’m long gone,” he said.

Donnelly believes that investing in basic research is the only way to understand why we get sick and how to prevent it. “Supporting research at the Donnelly Centre is the best investment I’ve ever made in my life.” Indeed, the Centre’s world-class investigators continually uncover new insights and make breakthroughs in health and disease. In 2020, several of its groups quickly pivoted their research to combat the global COVID-19 pandemic by developing new diagnostics and treatments. Even after expanding its focus, diabetes research is still very present and very productive at the Donnelly Centre, with nineteen research papers published from 2005 to 2021.

Because of his many generous donations, Donnelly has been awarded several prizes, including The Order of Ontario in 2001 and the Order of Canada in 2014. Many of the healthcare organizations he helped named buildings, departments, laboratories and centres after him. While Donnelly acknowledges that the recognition is nice, he emphasizes that it is certainly not the point. Rather, he wishes for his philanthropy to inspire others to do the same.

Donnelly is the president of the Terrence Donnelly Foundation and currently serves as President and Director of the Colonel Harland Sanders Charitable Organization where he oversees projects in children’s hospitals in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

— Written by Ana de Faria