David Kent Pecaut, was a US-born Canadian civic leader, city builder and a strategist. He was known for his visionary initiatives, and solutions-based approach to social issues. He was able to convene different stakeholders, and implement holistic solutions. He was instrumental in forming the Toronto City Summit Alliance. He tackled a "wide range of issues like greening the city, diversity, immigrant employment and affordable housing."
Personal life
Pecaut was born to Richard and Dorothy Pecaut, raised in Sioux City, Iowa and attended West High School before going to Harvard University and University of Sussex. He return to Sioux City to work for Terra Chemicals before moving to Toronto in the 1980s. Pecaut was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in November 2009. He died on December 14, 2009 at his Toronto residence of colorectal cancer. He was 54 years old and survived by wife Helen Burstyn and their daughters Lauren Burstyn Lawrence and her husband Matt, of Los Angeles, CA; Amy Burstyn, Sarah Pecaut and Rebecca Pecaut of Toronto; a brother Dan Pecaut and his wife Kay, of Sioux City, Iowa; a sister Stacey Gerhart of Sioux City, Iowa; a sister Mary Pecaut and her husband Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, living in Morocco; brother-in-law Rubin Burstyn and wife Judi Bodnoff; and many adoring nieces, nephews and extended family members.
Professional life
Pecaut began his consulting career as special assistant to the president of Terra Chemicals in Sioux City. He moved to Toronto and joined the Canada Consulting Group in the early 1980s, became a partner at Telesis in Rhode Island in 1984, and rejoined CCG in 1988, later leading the negotiations that merged the firm with the Boston Consulting Group in 1993 to found BCG Canada. As a senior partner and managing director of BCG, he was a major force in building BCG's global strategy, e-commerce and public policy practices. David was an avid booster of Toronto and devoted himself increasingly to civic entrepreneurship in recent years, referring to his city-building activities as one of the greatest highlights of his life. Pecaut drove the creation of what is now the LEAP Pecaut Centre for Social Impact, making BCG Canada a co-founder along with EY, Google, McCarthy Tétrault, The Offord Group and H+K Strategies. in Toronto He spearheaded the formation of the Toronto City Summit Alliance in 2002 and was its guiding light in developing initiatives like DiverseCity, the Emerging Leaders Network, the Toronto Region Research Alliance, Greening Greater Toronto and Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults. He also convened the Toronto Alliance in 2003 to renew tourism after SARS, sparked the formation of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council and initiated an award winning mentorship partnership program. One of the civic projects that excited him most was Luminato, the Toronto-based international arts festival that he co-founded with Tony Gagliano in 2007.
