John Godfrey

Godfrey, John Ferguson

John Ferguson Godfrey, academic, editor, politician (b at Toronto 19 Dec 1942). A surprising choice to become editor of the Financial Post in 1987, Godfrey was educated at University of Toronto and Oxford, where he studied French history. He taught at Dalhousie University from 1970 and in 1977 became president of the tiny University of King's College, located on Dalhousie campus.

As president Godfrey was enormously successful in attracting publicity to his institution and himself, and he also worked for many good causes, most notably the Ethiopian airlift, which he began in an effort to alleviate the terrible famine there. He authored Capitalism at War in 1987. Godfrey left the Financial Post in 1991 to become vice-president of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. In keeping with his eclectic professional history, Godfrey entered politics in 1993, running successfully for the federal Liberal party, and is the MP for Don Valley West (Ont). In 2006 he unsuccessfully ran for leadership of the LIBERAL PARTY.

In late 2007 Godfrey announced his retirement from politics to assume a position as headmaster at the Toronto French School, but he remained the MP for Don Valley West until the federal election in 2008.

He is co-author (with Rob McLean) of The Canada We Want: Competing Visions for the New Millennium (1999).