Philanthropist Richard Rooney champions TMU’s new Student Wellbeing Centre

Dr. Richard Rooney, Vice Chair and Co-Founder of Burgundy Asset Management Ltd., knows a good investment when he sees one. Rooney has donated $1 million to support the development of the new Student Wellbeing Centre (SWC) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). 

The SWC will bring together TMU’s health and wellbeing services and supports, currently scattered across various locations on campus, under one roof and one model of integrated care. Co-locating services such as the Medical Centre and the Centre for Student Development and Counselling — which collectively offer 20,000 appointments to students annually — will improve access and care for a diverse and growing community. 

“Placing student wellness services at the centre of the campus is a brilliant idea,” said Rooney. “COVID was an unimaginable difficulty, and it left a trail of wreckage as far as how people see the world. We have a population of students that are probably more in need of wellness services than any previous group because they’ve had such a tough time the last five years.”

The SWC will be situated at the heart of TMU’s downtown campus, at the corner of Gould and Bond streets. Preserving, adapting and reimagining historic O’Keefe House, the SWC will be a cutting-edge, purpose-built facility that will elevate the standard of student wellbeing. In addition to the Medical Centre and the Centre for Student Development and Counselling, the SWC will be home to the Tri-Mentoring Program, Consent Comes First, Academic Accommodation Support, ThriveTMU and more. 

“We’re so appreciative of Dr. Rooney’s donation and the lasting impact it will have on the lives of TMU students,” said Jen McMillen, Vice-Provost, Students. “His generosity is a vital contribution to an ambitious vision that will improve how students access support, participate in programming and find community on campus. These changes would not be possible without people like him, whose personal experiences inspire them to pay it forward.”

Rooney received an honorary doctorate from TMU in 2024. Similar to what he mentioned in his convocation address, he did not shy away from sharing his own struggles from his time as a student: “You tend to fight three dragons — anxiety, depression and addiction — at some point in your life. But the one I fought during my student years was addiction. I had a very severe drinking problem that really got out of control when I was an undergraduate, and it lasted right through my 20s. I got the kind of help that I needed and was able to dispense with alcohol. But I remember how hard it was — extraordinarily difficult — to break, and it’s so isolating from other individuals. So yes, I definitely see the need for support for all those problems.”

The SWC will be a place for students experiencing trauma, anxiety, depression, sexual violence, and other urgent medical or mental-health challenges. It will also be a place for education and community gathering, and a safe space to find belonging, understanding, comfort and healing. In a single location at the heart of the TMU campus, students will find professionals and peers ready to listen. Students will receive the guidance and support they need to help them realize their life’s potential.

The SWC is also funded by TMU students, who voted ‘yes’ in a referendum to increase fees in support of purpose-built spaces for care, improved accessibility to programming, and a more holistic delivery of health and wellbeing services. 

“The students know best what they need,” said Rooney. “When they’re willing to step up through their fees, especially in an environment like we have right now, that speaks volumes about how important this is to them.”