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Frank Iacobucci
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
In office January 7, 1991 – June 30, 2004
Nominated by	Brian Mulroney
Preceded by	Bertha Wilson
Succeeded by	Rosalie Abella/Louise Charron
Born	January 29, 1937 (1937-01-29) (age 73) Vancouver, British Columbia

Frank Iacobucci, CC (born January 29, 1937) was a Puisne Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from 1991 to 2004 when he retired from the bench. He is an expert in business and tax law.

Early career

The son of Italian immigrants, Iacobucci was born in Vancouver. He received a B.Comm. and LL.B. from the University of British Columbia and an LL.M. from Cambridge University. Iacobucci practised corporate law in New York and then served as a professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law from 1967 until 1982 as well as Dean of the law faculty from 1979 until 1982. He also served as Vice-President and Provost of the university from 1983 to 1985. He entered the public service as Deputy Minister of Justice in the federal government from 1985 to 1988 when he was appointed to the Chief Justice of the Federal Court. In 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 in 2004.

Retirement from court

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. In September of that same year he joined Torys as Counsel, and since 2005 has been the Chair of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.^[1]

He sits on a number of board of directors including Torstar, publisher of the Toronto Star and a series of smaller newspapers and owner of Harlequin Enterprises, a global publisher of formulaic 'romance/fantasy' or 'soft-soft-porn' novels aimed at the blue-collar/housewife market.

Iacobucci is currently the commissioner of an internal inquiry into the alleged torture of three Arab-Canadians in Syria and Egypt as the personal appointee of Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper .^[2] He also chairs the selection committee for commissioners of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. ^[3]

Awards

Iacobucci has been given honorary degrees from a number of Canadian schools, and is also an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. In 2007, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. [2]

The Frank Iacobucci Centre for Italian Canadian Studies at the University of Toronto was named in his honour.

On June 9, 2008, Iacobucci was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by McMaster University.

See also

• Reasons of the Supreme Court of Canada by Justice Iacobucci

References

• official Supreme Court bio
• Torys profile