McArthur spent over six decades as a member of the Harvard Business School (HBS) community as a student and faculty member, including 15 years as the school’s dean. In 1984, he launched the Harvard Business School Press (incorporated as Harvard Business School Publishing in 1993). Born in Vancouver, he was a founding board member of the Canada Development Investment Corporation and served on several boards, including those of Telesat Canada and Bell Canada. He was awarded honourary doctorates at numerous academic institutions, including Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia, where he received a bachelor’s degree in forestry in 1957. In 2013, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. He died on August 20 outside of Boston. (The Logic)

Talking point: McArthur is credited for changing the culture of HBS: “We have to stress how human values, like ethics, relate to business decisions,” he told the Boston Globe in 1979. He chaired the Asia Pacific Foundation (APF) of Canada until 2015; the organization then established the John H. McArthur Distinguished Fellowship in his honour. Michael Bloomberg, the businessman and former New York City mayor, was named APF Canada’s second John H. McArthur Distinguished Fellow in January. McArthur was instrumental in the 1994 merger of two of the U.S.’s leading teaching hospitals—Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General—creating Partners HealthCare, where he served as founding co-chairman.