Once described by CBC as “the Forrest Gump of Canadian pop culture”
PETERBOROUGH, ON – Canadian entertainment lawyer, TV producer, songwriter and author Stephen Stohn has been named chancellor of Peterborough’s Trent University.
Stohn’s appointment as Trent's 12th chancellor was approved by the University Senate on March 12, making him the second alumnus to hold the position in the institution’s 55-year history.
After graduating from Trent in 1969 with a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics, Stohn began his more than 50-year career in the industry as a performing artist and songwriter, before becoming a television producer. A 14-time Canadian Screen Award (formerly the Gemini Awards) winner, he is well known as the executive producer of various iterations of the Degrassi television franchise and for his role as executive producer of The Juno Awards for close to 20 years.
An entertainment and copyright lawyer since 1979, Stohn has been an active lobbyist for the reform of Canada’s copyright laws, was instrumental in the creation of the Songwriters Association of Canada, and was director and chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of Ontario Media Development Corporation. As founding partner in the entertainment law firm Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP, he provided strategic legal advice to performers, advertisers, agencies, merchandisers, recording artists, songwriters, multimedia/internet creators, broadcasters and film and television producers.
Currently the president of Skystone Media Inc. and its related companies, Stohn has been the executive producer of numerous television series including, Degrassi, Instant Star, Open Heart and The L.A. Complex. In 2011, he was inducted into the Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame, nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, and won a Peabody Award.
“The unique guiding principles of Trent have been foundational to my life,” said Stohn, in a statement. “The formal and the informal learning opportunities that I look back on propelled my own career, but are even more important for students today as formative and needed tools to help confront and adapt to our rapidly-changing economic, political and social times. In coming back as chancellor, I’m delighted that I will be promulgating these special qualities of Trent and, like we did through Degrassi, mentoring young people to become better citizens of Canada and the world, and energizing projects that will leave a legacy.”
Stohn will be installed as chancellor at Trent University’s convocation ceremonies on June 7, 2019.
