for three years so she could train professionally — on the condition she never reveal his name. A patron of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in the early 1960s, when the orchestra was preparing to move to new facilities at Place des Arts, McConnell purchased the 1722 Laub–Petschnikoff Stradivarius violin for use by concertmaster and violinist Calvin Sieb. Death and legacy When McConnell died in 1963, his newspaper's rival, the Montreal Gazette, gave his death front-page coverage, describing him as "one of the world's great philanthropists" and that he had "played a key role in building the institutions in this city." He was interred in the family plot at Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal. McConnell's grand Italianate residence at 1475 Pine Avenue West in Montreal's Golden Square Mile, known as , was subsequently donated to the Benedictines around 1975. Under Dom John Main, the mansion became the Benedictine Priory of Montreal in 1977, until that closed in 1990. It then became known as Unitas, an ecumenical meditation centre, before being sold in the early 2000s and restored to its original use as a single-family home. In February 2019, it was announced in the media that the McConnell mansion was for sale with an asking price of $40 million, the highest-priced residential building so far in Quebec history. As of April 2020, the 10-bedroom house was still for sale, but with a reduced price of $29.5 million. In 1973, the Montreal Star was sold to Free Press Publications of Toronto and closed its doors within a few years. In 1984, his estate sold St. Lawrence Sugar Refineries to the Saint John, New Brunswick-based Lantic Sugar Limited (now part of Rogers Sugar). In his honour, McGill University named several buildings after him, and the world-renowned McConnell Brain Imaging Centre can be found at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Almost thirty years after his death, his foundation was still carrying out his philanthropic ideals. In 1992, the J.W. McConnell Building opened at Concordia University in Montreal, and the McConnell Foundation continues to undertake charitable work to this day. References Bibliography External links The McConnell Foundation Biography of J.W. McConnell – Canada's Digital Collections J.W. McConnell Fonds – McGill University Library & Archives 1877 births 1963 deaths 20th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people) Canadian philanthropists People from Montreal People from the District Municipality of Muskoka Canadian chief executives Anglophone Quebec people Directors of Bank of Montreal Burials