Morton Shulman - Biography

Morton Shulman, OC (25 April 1925 – August 18, 2000) was a Canadian politician, businessman, broadcaster, columnist, coroner, and physician.

Biography

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Shulman received his M.D from the University of Toronto in 1948. Shulman practiced throughout his professional life with a general practice on Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto. He became wealthy through investing in the stock market and wrote a bestselling book, Anyone Can Make a Million in 1966. He was married to Gloria Shulman and they had two children, environmental lawyer Dianne Saxe and Dr. Geoff Shulman. Shulman is also the grandfather of noted neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe.

Coroner

In exchange for his involvement in the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, he was appointed Ontario's chief coroner in 1961. In 1963, he was named Chief Coroner of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. Shulman was outspoken and used the coroner position to crusade on a number of issues such as enacting tougher regulations on lifejackets for small boats, having government regulate car safety, the introduction of breathalysers into Ontario, and against then-restrictive abortion laws after he investigated the deaths of women who had died while trying to terminate their pregnancies. In other crusades, he helped to force surgeons to count instruments before and after surgery, and construction companies to provide better bracing in trenches. His years as a coroner became the inspiration for the Canadian television drama Wojeck.

Political career

After embarrassing the provincial government by revealing its inaction in enforcing the fire code in a recently built hospital, he was fired, in 1967, as Ontario's Chief Coroner and decided to avenge himself by running for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Despite ideological differences, he accepted the nomination of the left-wing Ontario New Democratic Party. Despite his strong capitalist beliefs, he decided to run for the democratic socialist party because they gave him a free hand in choosing his own riding, and because their views in support of public safety were compatible with his own. He ran as a candidate in High Park and was elected as Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the riding in the 1967 provincial election.

He used his position in the legislature to become a thorn in the side of the Tory governments led by John Robarts and Bill Davis. He asked provocative questions in the legislature and was known for stunts, such as selling the book The Happy Hooker out of his office after it had been banned by the Toronto Police morality squad - he offered MPPs a 10% discount. Once, to make a point about lax security, he carried a pellet gun (dressed up to look like a submachine gun) in a bag through an Ontario nuclear plant, and then pulled it out on the floor of the Legislature. He waved it around happily while cabinet ministers sitting across from him hid under their desks. He wrote the book "MPP" to describe his experiences, one of at least three autobiographies that he wrote.

The Shulman File

From 1977 until 1982, he hosted a hard-hitting television show on CITY-TV called The Shulman File which featured confrontational interviews, sensationalist and risque topics and outrageous opinions. The show was spoofed by SCTV as Murray's File. At the same time, he began writing a regular column in the Toronto Sun which continued into the 1990s. After clashing with his colleagues in the NDP, particularly party leader Stephen Lewis who refused to agree to Shulman's demands that he be appointed Attorney General if the party won the following election, Shulman decided to leave the legislature and did not run in the 1975 election. After leaving politics, he continued his career in broadcasting for several years, and became more involved in the financial community, heading up a mutual fund and pursuing various business interests.

Deprenyl

Shulman was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1983, and formed a company, Deprenyl Research Ltd., (now known as Draxis) in order to acquire Canadian rights to the anti-Parkinson's drug Deprenyl. His company engaged in a long fight with the federal government for approval of the drug for sale in Canada. He also started a second pharmaceutical company, called DUSA, now run by his son.

Honours and death

In 1993, Shulman was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. After battling Parkinson's disease for more than 15 years, he finally succumbed to the complications arising from that disease at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto on August 18, 2000. He was buried in Pardes Shalom Cemetery on Dufferin Street two days later.

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Morton Shulman fonds, Ontario Archives