William Waters, a University of Toronto professor emeritus and successful entrepreneur in the financial services industry, has a deep love of music but no talent for playing any musical instrument.

Instead, Waters, 76, has dedicated a good part of his generous philanthropic activities to helping young people advance their musical careers. Not only has Waters made financial donations to a variety of music schools and organizations, but he has also provided financial support to specific individuals who have crossed his path. In addition, Waters is also the proud owner of a rare Amati viola worth an estimated $1.8 million.

“I don’t know a bar from a chord,” says Waters of his own musical abilities, although he has a deep appreciation for classical music, particularly the works of Beethoven. Waters got as far as being invited to be a member of his Grade 2 kazoo band. But, he is sorry to say, his position was not renewed in the second half of the school year.

Waters taught microeconomics, finance and investment courses during his 35-year career at U of T’s Joseph L. Rotman School of Business. He also fulfilled another role, as the co-founder and president of Financial Models Co. Inc., a Toronto-based company specializing in computer systems and information services for investment organizations such as pension funds, banks and insurance companies. In addition, he was the founder of fund analysis company Portfolio Analytics Ltd., which later evolved into Morningstar Canada.

Waters’ support of musicians began several years ago, when he made the acquaintance of a young waitress at the Quartier Restaurant in Toronto, at which he liked to have lunch on workdays. With the help of Waters and his wife Phyllis, that waitress, Ariana Chris, has pursued a career as an opera singer after graduating from the opera music program at U of T. Chris won some starring roles with L’Opera de Montreal before moving to New York to pursue her career; she has since sung with the New York City Opera.

Despite Chris’s talent, the opera world hasn’t yet allowed her to make enough money to survive, Waters says, and without his financial help, she would not have been able to continue training with high-calibre coaches and to progress in her career.

“Most young ladies working in restaurants don’t do so with the intention of staying there,” Waters says. “It’s fun to support talented individuals with dreams; you become involved in their progress. With Ariana, I feel that I am supporting a special talent, and it’s rather pleasing.”

Waters’ experience with Chris opened his mind to his next adventure, which was to purchase a rare musical instrument to be played by a budding musician in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

“With an opera singer, her instrument is her voice. But I began to think about what I could do for a musician who plays an instrument,” Waters says. “If it was a string instrument player, I knew there were some wonderful heirloom instruments out there.”

Waters had some conversations with Andrew Shaw, a former business-school student who is currently president of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, “who knows how this stuff works.” Waters set off on a search that led him to purchase an Amati viola from David Fulton of Seattle. (Fulton had sold his company, Fox Software Inc., to Microsoft Corp. at the height of the tech boom. Fulton possesses the world’s largest private collection of Italian string instruments and bows, which he keeps in a vault in Seattle.)

Made in 1704 in Cremona, Italy, the Amati viola is equivalent to a Stradivarius violin. Waters’ viola is one of three known Amatis in the world; the other two are in museums. Waters’ Amati is currently being played by “a superbly talented young woman” who is the principal violist with the TSO. The viola will be gifted to the TSO upon Waters’ death.

“The idea was to meld a talented young person to a special instrument and allow a bond to form,” Waters says. “There’s a selfish aspect to it — I wanted to contribute to the musician’s success.”

Inspired by his experience with Chris, Waters was moved to create a scholarship fund at U of T’s faculty of music in order to help a greater number of students on an ongoing basis. In 2005, for example, Waters contributed $1.7 million to the fund — an amount that was boosted to $7.5 million as a result of various matching donorship programs from the university and government. The program provides annual funds for students to undertake study programs in various parts of the world to advance their musical studies, including summer internships and post-graduate programs.

@page_break@“After my experience with Ariana, I began to think about how to help other talented young people and to encourage others to do the same,” Waters says. “I realized if donors can get a tax break, it might be an incentive, as there are no breaks for the private help I’ve been giving Ariana. I wanted to provide continuing educational opportunities for students of music.”

On a smaller scale, Waters also supports music programs offered by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and the Toronto Summer Music Festival and Academy, as well as music appreciation programs undertaken by the TSO for elementary and high-school students.

“Even a brief exposure may be that something special that inspires a student to go on,” he says.

Waters believes that music is an important part of stimulating the imagination and creativity of young people, and that it offers something beyond the reading, writing and arithmetic that is the focus in most schools.

“Students who take up music learn the need for discipline,” Waters says. “They won’t be good unless they practise regularly and work hard.” IE