A Classicist’s Legacy

Malcolm Barton Wallace, a beloved Classics professor who taught at U of T for 38 years and died of cancer in 2008, has had an award established in his memory. The M.B. Wallace Memorial Graduate Award in Classics will be conferred on scholars in the field of Greco-Roman antiquity, which was Wallace’s specialty.

Wallace (BA 1963 UC, MA 1966, PhD 1972) spent many happy summers working on an archeological site on the Greek island Karystos, served as president of the Canadian Institute in Greece and was passionate about the writings of Herodotus. But he loved working with students above all else. “He was serious about reading and helping to critique papers even after students graduated,” says his sister, Philippa Matheson. “He would ask, ‘What’s the evidence?’ The idea that something generally was accepted was not good enough.”

Wallace’s parents were also classicists. His father taught at University College and his grandfather, also named Malcolm, was principal of UC.

Matheson was the beneficiary of Malcolm’s RSP, and used part of it to establish the award – donating $150,000. Other members of his family (including his aunt, Mary Elisabeth Wallace, a U of T professor who died this year), and his friends and colleagues pledged $50,000. U of T matched the donations, bringing the total endowment to $400,000.