Good joined the Faculty of Management at the University of Manitoba in 1969, serving the yet-to-be-named Asper School of Business for 40 years before his retirement in 2009. He passed away in July of this year.

During his time in the Faculty of Management, Good served as the Associate Dean and Department Head of Marketing and continued as a Senior Scholar into 2024.

Former colleagues and students remember Good as a champion for entrepreneurship, someone who shared in the vision of the Faculty as a hub for entrepreneurial excellence, insight, experience, and expertise. A dedicated supporter of his home department as well, Good was proud of the teaching and researching productivity that flourished in the marketing department under his leadership and the marketing behavioral lab that blossomed with his support.

Good was a dedicated and prolific academic, authoring more than 40 Harvard-style case studies based on Manitoba and national firms, serving as acting director of the Centre for International Business Studies at UM, and writing five books about venture development including Building a Dream: A Canadian Guide to Starting Your Own Business, which is now in its 12^th edition.

Passionate about experiential learning, Good was an advocate for student competitions in both entrepreneurship and marketing. He was a strong supporter of the Manitoba International Marketing Competition, an annual event that ran for over 30 years and brought students to UM from around the world. He also worked closely with faculty to encourage student participation in entrepreneurship competitions at home and away.

Good was a force inside and outside of the classroom; he was recognized for his skill as a teacher, earning the first ever Golden Shovel Award from the Commerce Students’ Association in the 1973-74 academic year. Selected by the graduating class of the Asper School of Business, Golden Shovel recipients are recognized for their teaching impact. As the first-ever recipient, Good set a strong standard for the five-decade tradition that continues to this day.

Good’s impact continues to be felt at the Asper School of Business—today a hub for entrepreneurial excellence and a trailblazing institution in the will will Canadian landscape for fostering entrepreneurial spirit in business education.

In his obituary, a concluding note encourages loved ones to forego flowers and instead consider contributing a gift in his name to the Class of 1972 Scholarship in Management fund. This alumni-led initiative strives to support more students in pursuit of a business degree at the Asper School of Business.

Whether in entrepreneurship, marketing, or business, Walter Good was a champion of giving students what they need—the practical knowledge, unique hands-on learning opportunities, and the encouragement to think big—to build their dreams.

Linda Stewart [BComm(Hons)/72], Stu Breckon [BComm(Hons)/72], and Don Keatch [BComm(Hons)/72]—members of the Class of ’72 Scholarship Committee, shared their thoughts about Good’s impact and the intent of this incredible initiative that supports students in pursuit of their business dreams.

L-R: Larry Steciuk ’72 Fred Starke, Marie Elliott ‘72, Walter Good, Harry Finnigan ‘72, Stu Breckon ‘72, Wes Douglas ‘72, Don Keatch ‘72.
Image provided by Don Keatch.

From the Class of ’72 Scholarship Committee (Linda Stewart, Stu Breckon, Don Keatch)

“Our Class of ’72 scholarship initiative started in 1997 at our 25^th anniversary celebrations. Walter joined us together with Dean Emeriti Mundie and Gray and Professor Starke as part of what became a long-standing “support” group for our Class scholarship fund-raising project. It turned into a 25+ year commitment by our class to support Asper school students, continuing to this day, to which many of the Class of 72 grads have contributed.

“Not only that, our Scholarship group became great friends as the years went by, getting together for our annual awards luncheon and presentations. Together, we would mingle with the scholarship winners, hear of their accomplishments and aspirations and, most importantly, provide wisdom and encouragement for their future endeavours.

“Walter was an integral part of this group. As we all got to know one another better, Walter’s wonderful personality – knowledgeable, caring, and kind, tinged with an understated but delightful sense of humour, shone through.

“We will miss Walter’s presence as we continue without him, but will remember him fondly and recall the many good times we had together supporting the Asper School students.”

With teaching service at UM, the University of Winnipeg, Brandon University and Carleton University, as well as contract teaching at StandardAero, Cooney is remembered as a caring and dedicated educator who went above and beyond for students, always infusing a sense of fun and light humour into class. His loving wife Joan Rogers [MBA/82] shares how this combination made a lasting impression on students.

“I think that Peter’s legacy is the importance of hard work, being true to oneself and a gentle sense of humour,” she says.

University of Manitoba Chancellor Anne Mahon [BScHEc/87] recalls Cooney’s attention, kindness and gentle approach in her first term as a student.

“Peter was my Financial Accounting instructor in my first semester of university at UM in the fall of 1983. It was the only course I took with Peter, but I have never ever forgotten his kindness. I badly failed my first midterm, and his care and concern taught me so much. He quickly realized I was nervous writing exams and was so supportive—even coming over to tell me jokes when I was writing my next two exams. I passed the course but did not became an accountant!” she says.

In 1985 Cooney received the Olive Beatrice Stanton Award for Excellence in Teaching, a recognition of his contributions to advancing teaching and learning at UM and his status as an outstanding UM educator.

Charles Henaire [BComm(Hons)/88], Executive Vice President, Deputy CFO and Chief Accounting and Control Officer of Great-West Lifeco, shared how Cooney’s instruction impacted his career success.

“Peter was one of my favourite accounting instructors at the University of Manitoba and was a great mentor. His knowledge and kindness had an amazing influence on me and my journey in becoming a Chartered Accountant (CPA). Thank you, Peter.”

Henaire’s and Chancellor Mahon’s tributes demonstrate Cooney’s ability to connect with students and recognize their potential, regardless of where their career journeys took them.

The graduating commerce class of 1988 clearly felt this, and they selected Cooney as the 1987-88 recipient of the Commerce Students’ Association Golden Shovel Award. Each year, graduating students nominate professors and instructors for the award and vote for the educator that has made the most significant impact upon them in their final year at the Asper School of Business.

Former marketing professor, MBA program director and associate dean of the Asper School of Business, Dr. Dennis Anderson shares what made Cooney stand out whether he was at the front of the classroom or seated among classmates.

“As a student, Peter possessed a rare combination of high intelligence, depth and breadth of perspective, command of concepts and theories, and grasp of the practical applications—all this mixed with his quick mind and ever-present, unique sense of humour. Nothing phased him; he rose to every opportunity and challenge.”

“As an instructor, Peter valued every student. His interest was their learning, their career development, and them as human beings. They knew it. They felt it. In short, he demonstrated that he cared about them,” says Anderson.

Dr. Anderson is clear—Cooney was an effective teacher thanks to his breadth and depth of knowledge and ability to engage with both practical and theoretical concepts, but he was an exceptional teacher because he cared, a sentiment that Chancellor Mahon captures beautifully.

Says Chancellor Mahon,

“Peter Cooney taught me the most valuable lesson of all: that absolutely nothing replaces the conscious choice of someone caring about you. Never underestimate its impact.”

Photos provided by Joan Rogers and Dr. Dennis Anderson.

A memorial service for Professor Nemiroff will be held tomorrow, Friday, June 14 at 10:00 a.m. at Chapel Lawn Funeral Home, 4000 Portage Avenue. Please read The Free Press Passages notice.

Nemiroff held a BSc (McGill), BA (Sir George Williams / Concordia), BCL (McGill), and an LLB and LLM from Dalhousie. He was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1972 and in the same year, was awarded the University of Manitoba’s Olive Beatrice Stanton Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 1975, he was a visiting professor at the University of Melbourne, and taught at the University of Calgary in 1977.

Good at mathematics and physics, he nearly became a meteorologist, but ended up in law “because there were more spaces,” than applicants at the time, as he intimated to Dr. Bryan Schwartz in an interview for the Manitoba Law Journal 39:1 (136-190) regarding “The Great Transition in Legal Education.”

Nemiroff practiced Insurance Law in Quebec initially, but after completing his LLM on waiver, election and estoppel in the law of insurance, decided to pursue an academic career. Hired by late Dean of Law Cliff Edwards who was snapping up every LLM he could find for Manitoba’s law school, he taught Insurance Law and Negotiable Instruments, which he said he found “interesting and challenging and quirky.” Later, he also taught Contracts.

In Nemiroff’s interview with the MLJ, the editor notes that despite University policy that a professor can only win the Stanton Award for Teaching Excellence once in their career, Nemiroff’s students in his last year of teaching (2007 – 2008) asked the University to bend this policy, writing:

      Gerry Nemiroff is somewhat legendary at Robson Hall…

      A good law professor doesn’t just tell you what the state of the law is, or how the law has developed. They teach you how to find the law and more importantly they teach you how to use the law….

       …It wasn’t until my third and final year of law school that I learned how to properly read and understand a case. It was in Gerry’s [sic] Nemiroff’s Insurance Law class where I began to understand how to argue the law. (MLJ 39:1, p. 154)

The Faculty of Law extends condolences to Gerry’s family, friends and former colleagues and students for the loss of this legendary scholar and teacher.

Please learn more about Professor Gerald Nemiroff’s legacy in the Manitoba Law Journal.