Frank Iacobucci

His father emigrated from Abruzzo in 1922 and his mother emigrated from Calabria in 1925.

He was the third of four children and attended Britannia Secondary School.

In high school he worked in a steel foundry alongside his father and was inspired by the story of Angelo Branca to pursue law.

As his parents did not have the opportunity to receive a formal education, they stressed the importance of their children receiving higher education.

Frank Iacobucci (born June 29, 1937) is a former Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1991 until his retirement from the bench in 2004.

He was the first Italian-Canadian, allophone judge on the court.

Iacobucci was also the first judge on the Supreme Court to have been born, raised and educated in British Columbia.

Iacobucci has had a distinguished career in private practice, academia, the civil service and the judiciary.

Iacobucci received a Bachelor of Commerce (BComm.) degree in 1961 and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree in 1962, both from the University of British Columbia.

While attending the University of British Columbia, he became a brother of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI).

He received a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree in 1964 and a diploma in international law (Dip Int'L) in 1966, both from the University of Cambridge.

Iacobucci practiced corporate law and related fields at Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood in New York City from 1964 until 1967.

Taking a chance to pursue a career in academia, he was an associate professor and then a professor of law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law between 1967 and 1985.

He was called by The Law Society of Upper Canada to the Ontario bar in 1970.

He subsequently served as associated dean of the faculty from 1973 to 1975, and was a visiting fellow at Wolfson College in 1978.

From 1976 to 1988, he was the director of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario.

Before his elevation to the nation's top court, he was a tenured professor of law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law for eighteen years, and was appointed dean of the faculty in 1979.

He served as dean of the faculty from 1979 to 1983.

He was director for the National Congress of Italian Canadians from 1979 to 1983 and became vice-president in 1980, serving for three years.

He was also vice-president and member on the board of governors for the Canadian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies from 1981 to 1998.

It is within this time period (1982 to 1985), Iacobucci was also a commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission and was counsel to the Estey Commission in 1974.

Iacobucci was also a part of several noteworthy organizations.

He also acted as vice-president and provost of the university from November 1983 to September 1985.

Additionally, Iacobucci was also the director of Cambridge Canada Trust for seven years beginning in 1984.

From 1985 to 1988, he served as the Deputy Attorney General of Canada, playing a key role in constitutional law negotiations during the Meech Lake Accord process.

He entered the public service in 1985 as Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada in the federal government.

He was a principal member of the federal team in negotiations over the Meech Lake Accord in 1987.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appointed him Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada in 1988.

As a former private corporate lawyer, he is considered an expert in business and tax law.

He currently serves as senior counsel at the business law firm Torys LLP.

Iacobucci was born in Vancouver, British Columbia to working-class Italian immigrants, Gabriel Iacobucci and Rosina Pirillo.

Just three years after entering the civil service, in September 1988, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Federal Court.

Iacobucci was a member of the Canadian Judicial Council and Education Committee from 1988 to 1991 and was on the executive committee in his last year.

In 1989, he became governor of the Canadian Judicial Centre/National Judicial Institute until 2004.

He is a former elder at Islington United Church.

On January 7, 1991, Justice Iacobucci was appointed as justice of the Supreme Court of Canada by Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney and served in this capacity until retiring on July 1, 2004.

While serving as a Supreme Court judge, he was also a member of the advisory council for the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy before becoming director in 1993.

In 1996, Iacobucci sat on the advisory committee as a member for McGill University Faculty of Law until 2004.

He was a member of the advisory board for the Institute of Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa from 1998 to 2004.

Following his retirement from the Supreme Court, Iacobucci was appointed interim president of the University of Toronto in 2004, and served in that post until he was replaced by David Naylor in October 2005.