Christopher Ondaatje
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Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje, OC, CBE, (born February 22, 1933) is a Sri Lankan Canadian businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and Olympian.
He was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to a non-wealthy Burgher family of Portuguese-Dutch-Sinhalese-Tamil origins and sent to Blundell's School in the United Kingdom. His alcoholic father lost the family fortune however, and Christopher was forced to leave school a year from graduation. In 1956, Christopher emigrated to Canada, arriving in Toronto with virtually no money. He quickly began to rebuild the family fortune, becoming a wealthy stockbroker. He became a multi-millionaire in the publishing industry by founding the Pagurian Press, which he later sold to the Bronfman family.
He represented Canada as an Olympic athlete, competing as a bobsledder in the 1964 Winter Olympics.
He is a significant Canadian benefactor; among the institutions he has helped are: Lakefield College School, Dalhousie University, the National Ballet School, the Royal Ontario Museum (the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery) and Massey College in the University of Toronto.
After many years of success, in which he was considered one of Toronto's most aggressive and predatory businessmen, he quit the business world in 1995. He moved to Britain and began a career as a philanthropist and adventurer. Travelling through India and Africa, he also became an author, following in the footsteps of his younger brother Michael Ondaatje, a world-renowned novelist. His books describe his travels and adventures. In 2000 he helped fund an extension to the National Portrait Gallery, named the Ondaatje Wing after him. This and other philanthropic work and large donations to the Labour Party earned him a knighthood from the British government. He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Senior Fellow of Massey College.
His recent book Hemingway in Africa, details his thesis regarding the life and motivations of Ernest Hemingway.
[edit] Books by Christopher Ondaatje
- Hemingway in Africa
- Leopard in the Afternoon - An Africa Tenting Safari (Paperback - 2006)
- The Man-eater of Punanai - a Journey of Discovery to the Jungles of Old Ceylon (Paperback - 2006)
- Woolf in Ceylon: An Imperial Journey in the Shadow of Leonard Woolf, 1904-1911 (2005)
- Hemingway in Africa (2004)
- Journey to the Source of the Nile (Paperback - 1999)
- Sindh Revisited (1996)
- The Prime Ministers of Canada, 1867-1967 (1968)
- Olympic victory: The story behind the Canadian Bob-Sled Club's incredible victory at the 1964 Winter Olympic Games (1967)
