Episode 5: Bob Siskind

Robert (Bob) Siskind QC, LLD, practiced law for 15 years with a prominent London Ontario law firm before deciding to concentrate full time on real estate development in 1981. Among his community work, he has been the Chair of the Board of Western University, Chair of the London Health Sciences Centre, and Chair of the successful capital campaign for Fanshawe College. In addition to various institutional and governmental honourary degrees, Bob was recently inducted into the London Business Hall of Fame.

Bob Siskind Episode 5 Audio Bob Siskind Episode 5 Transcript

Andrew Young: My name is Andrew Young. You may recognise me from the Internet. I love my life, my cats, my job and my community. I'm taking up your time today because on this journey of life, I've met wonderful people who make our city better, and I want you to meet them too. This is Andrew Young's Fantastic Talks with Remarkable People.

AY: Charismatic. Catalyst. Community developer in every sense of the word. This man could light up a dark room with simply his smile. He's one of the most genuine and thoughtful human beings I've ever had the pleasure to meet. Let's get to know this locavore legend. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bob Siskind. Bob, thank you for gracing us with your presence.

Bob Siskind: I didn't know who you were talking about, Andrew. Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here.

AY: It's you, it's you. Oh my god, today is all about you. So I really, I really appreciate your time today. I just want to get into it, and I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna spout off a couple of things people have said about you or the positions that you've held, okay? So these are things that you've been called over the years and it's all positive.

BS: That's good.

AY: So it's going to be great. Board chair. Chairman. President. Consultant. Counsel. Hall of Famer. All really, really great titles to have, but in the short time that we spend together, it's not why you're doing what you're doing and not why you've done what it is that you have done in the community.

BS: Not at all.

AY: So, why have you, why have you given so much time and invested so much time in the community? What, what is it that prompts you? And what is it that drives you to give back?

BS: It doesn't happen in a shot, that all of a sudden you change from A to B. Background, I grew up in a loving family where my mother and father were involved. Very early on, I was invited to participate. A man named Claude Pensa, who is a revered lawyer, called me when I was just a young lawyer practise- just starting law on Waterloo Street. Asked if I would come and help him on the cancer campaign. So I moved outside of the Jewish community fundraising and involvement into the general community.

AY: Okay.

BS: Then later on, through a lucky stroke, I got asked to sit on the board at Western. And there I met a man named J. Allyn Taylor, who was the head of Canada Trust. We took a shine to each other. We- I really liked that man, and all during his aging years, I would visit him once a month. And he would encourage me if, if I was finished with a board, almost the next day, he would call up and say, "Hey, Bob, I've been thinking about this. Why don't you do this or why don't you do that?" So, all my life I've been lucky enough to have people moving me into community work. That's how it starts.

AY: Of course, I did some research about you as well. And you, and you, and you've passed- like passed on that mentorship, s...