Donald Rumball

Donald Rumball is both a writer and an actuary, surely the only person to abandon such a richly rewarded profession for the potential penury of writing. Born in South Africa, he has lived in Canada since 1967, first in Montreal and five years later in Toronto. He obtained his B.A. at Witwatersrand University, majoring in Mathematics, French and Economics and graduated as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in London. He left the actuarial profession in 1972 to become a journalist for the Financial Post. He loved actuarial science for its precision and elegance but succumbed to the call of writing. During his 15 years as a journalist, he won numerous prizes and awards for his writing. In 1981, he started Canada’s first national magazine for entrepreneurs, leading it through its growth pangs to become both widely respected and profitable. He left journalism to concentrate on books and major, government-funded research (32 in all). His two personas were evident in his numerous research projects, principally on the topics of entrepreneurship and business and the economy. However, his passion is writing, as evidenced by his first novel, published in November, 2018. Called Ambition, the novel depicts two entrepreneurs who personify opposite ends of the entrepreneurial spectrum and relates how they react when they confront big business. He has written three biographies of entrepreneurs who acquired tycoon status (one of them yet to be published).

He was involved in two major networks of entrepreneurs and served as Entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. He has also served on the boards of the Canadian Council of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the International Council for Small Business.