Tony Comper - Personal Account: 25 Tales about Leadership, Learning, and Legacy from a Lifetime at Bank of Montreal

Tony Comper is a visionary and a futurist. He doesnt just have a vision he has the gift of being able to execute, to create reality out of that vision. This is a very special and rare gift.

He and his wife Liz had a home on Yonge near Summerhill. There was a park behind it, and I remember the story that he and Liz would look out their window and see these young kids playing soccer on the field that was near their home. They enjoyed watching those kids play the game and they knew that one day they would like to become more involved in soccer.

A number of years later, I came to Tony with the idea of BMO participating as our major corporate partner in Toronto FC and told him about the soccer pitch we were building. Tony supported our idea and our vision and brought BMO on board as our major corporate sponsor. Today, Toronto FC play at BMO Field and proudly display the BMO logo on their jerseys.

Tony deserves much of the credit for supporting the idea that BMO should be a part of Major League Soccer. I remember when we introduced Toronto FC to the city. The Bank had created soccer balls with the BMO logo on them and they were being given away at BMO branches throughout the city. It caused a great deal of excitement in many of our communities around the BMO bank branches, as soccer is a number-one sport among many first- and second-generation Canadian immigrants.

Tony knew this was an opportunity for BMO to develop a higher profile within the communities they served. It wasnt just about putting BMOs name on jerseys and on the stadium their support had engaged people who were very involved with and truly passionate about the game, and this has been great for our team, our city and for Major League Soccer. As a footnote, BMO has also supported soccer at the grassroots level for years, and there are now over 800,000 kids registered in leagues and playing soccer in Canada today.

Our organization worked very closely with the people at BMO to develop the right branding. Toronto FC has gone on to win the MLS Cup, Supporters Shield and the Canadian Championship, and BMO has been there through all of it because of Tonys vision and desire that his bank should be a part of the beautiful game.

We now have three MLS teams in Canada: Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. Toronto FC has the distinction of being first, and BMOs endorsement has provided the very strong foundation from which we have grown our fan base and developed our team. We can credit them with helping us succeed in a very big way, where various teams had not been able to do so.

In addition to his vision and business acumen, Tony is a very special guy, and with his wife, Liz, has given a tremendous amount to the community. They were a great couple and had such a wonderful relationship. They were two different characters, but they balanced each other beautifully. Liz was the life of the party. She was no shrinking violet, but in a very nice way. She never pushed herself on people. She was a very genuine woman. Together and separately they supported many philanthropic endeavours, but it wasnt only the money they gave it was the time, the energy and enthusiasm they devoted to their charitable causes, none more so than the program they founded, Fighting Antisemitism Together (FAST), which you will read more about later in the book.

Larry Tanenbaum is the chairman of, and a major shareholder in, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, as well as the co-owner of the 2019 NBA champion Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Argonauts and MLS champions Toronto FC. Larry is a highly successful entrepreneur and philanthropist. BMO partnered with Larry in support of Toronto FC and BMO Field in Toronto.