A Divine Campaign

Rev. Margaret Fleck’s strong spiritual ties to Trinity College have inspired her husband, Jim Fleck (LLD Hon. 2002), to donate $1 million to Trinity’s “Faith in Divinity” campaign.

The campaign will create the Margaret E. Fleck Chair in Anglican Studies, to be held by the Faculty of Divinity’s dean, Canon David Neelands, and his successors. William Waters, a business and academic colleague of Jim Fleck’s and professor emeritus of the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, has donated $250,000. Additional donors are being sought to reach the campaign’s $3-million goal.

The Flecks believe establishing a chair will help ensure strong leadership at the divinity school. The chair also enables the couple to give back to a community that has provided Margaret (MDiv 1982, DD Hon. 2000) with enormous encouragement.

“I spent 22 years raising our four children and another stimulating seven years in youth ministry at a Toronto parish,” she says. When she entered the Master of Divinity program at Trinity College, she had no intention of seeking ordination. Instead, she thought she might become a lay minister and contribute to a greater awareness of lay ministry in the Anglican community, particularly as it relates to women. “Once again, I discovered that our creator is a God of surprises, challenges and love. I sought ordination, and much to my surprise and joy I was ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada in 1982.”

Trinity is no stranger to the Flecks’ philanthropy. “The chapel services and my spiritual growth experiences at Trinity prompted Jim and me to sponsor the Humphrys Chaplaincy at the college in 1995 in memory of my mother, who encouraged her children’s spiritual growth and involvement in the church community,” says Margaret.

Jim is proud of his wife’s achievements. “Margaret’s commitment to the Faculty of Divinity at Trinity, its influence on her life journey and all that she’s accomplished make this gift in her honour seem most fitting.”