About Michael Williams

“Many years ago I decided to live in Victoria, to make a home and life here. It was a conscious choice. I could have lived elsewhere, in another city or another country. But Victoria has a special charm and I was neither the first nor the last to fall under it. We have in this city of ours a unique place, a living heritage that takes pride in the past, celebrates the present, and looks confidently to the future. Like every heritage it is a trust, something we have for a short while, to be passed on to a new generation, and if possible, with improvements.”

Michael Collard Williams came to Canada in 1950 from the farming region of Shropshire, England. After several years in the Okanagan Valley, he arrived in Victoria in 1958 and started a dog training and kennel business. He and his border collies herded sheep in their regular appearances in the Victoria Day Parade.

He switched careers in 1977, dedicating himself to the heritage restoration of Victoria’s downtown commercial and residential buildings. Maynard Court, 700 block of Johnson, was his first initiative in urban renewal.

The restoration of the 1890s era Grand Central Hotel and Victoria Box and Paper Complex (500 block Johnson) in 1988 earned Mr. Williams a prestigious North American award of merit from the New York-based Downtown Research & Development Center.

His Swans Hotel & Brew Pub was given its name because of the "ugly duckling" nature of the building’s former purpose: a seed and fertilizer warehouse.

Cultural organizations also found a friend in Mr. Williams, including the Maritime Museum, Royal BC Museum, Greater Victoria Art Gallery, Victoria Symphony, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Knowledge Network, and the Boys and Girls Club of Victoria.

He generously supported community organizations including the Open Door Street Ministry, the Upper Room, Amnesty International, the Carmanah Forestry Society, and the Efforts for Clayoquot Sound Fund.

Mr. Williams was granted an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the Senate of the University of Victoria, Nov. 24, 1990. The citation noted that he was "at once a businessman, developer and heritage conservationist. Both a publican and a public man; a visionary and a Victorian… all of his projects will afford Victorians, British Columbians and Canadians a tangible legacy for the future, built on the solid foundation of the past."

Mr. Williams passed away November 9, 2000, aged 70. He bequeathed most of his estate to the University of Victoria. Valued at $17 million, it was then the largest gift in UVic’s history.