A Farewell Conversation with President Meric Gertler
President Meric Gertler (photo by Wade Hudson)
By John Lorinc and Scott Anderson
Looking back at the presidency of Meric Gertler – and ahead to the future he helped shape.
What defines a university president’s legacy? As Meric Gertler concludes his time at the helm of U of T, we examine the milestones, challenges and lasting influence of his leadership. Sprinkled among the stories below are reflections and tributes from colleagues around the world on President Gertler’s vision and impact.
As a young urban geographer in the early 1990s, Meric Gertler found himself pondering an intriguing riddle: Why do certain city-regions excel economically? The special sauce, he and other geographers suggested, lay in tight clusters of social connections among companies, universities, investors and government officials.
At the time, the idea that a dense weave of knowledge and capital could drive innovation and prosperity was cutting edge. Now, it’s widely accepted. So, when Gertler, formerly U of T’s dean of arts and science, became president in 2013, he was keen to apply this idea to a large university. How, he wondered, could U of T do more to bolster the social and economic life of the Toronto region, and how could a diverse university community draw on those same lessons?
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