Trevor Holness said he didn’t want to “sit around watching soap operas” when he retired from a 45-year career six years ago.
“I wanted something that would keep the old grey matter turning,” he said.
Now just a few months shy of his 79th birthday, Holness, MBA’73, MSc’21, is crossing the stage to receive his master of studies in law.
It’s his second graduate degree in the last four years and his third from Western, in addition to a graduate diploma achieved in 2022.
“If I get any more degrees, I won’t be able to get all my letters on one line of a business card,” he quipped.
Holness worked in the mining industry in northern Quebec when he first immigrated to Canada from the U.K. in 1968. He planned to return to the U.K. for his MBA, but was convinced to apply to Western.
He graduated on the Dean’s Honour List in 1973.
Trevor Holness in the same spot on campus (L to R) after his MBA graduation in 1973 and after receiving his graduate diploma in 2022. (Submitted)
That MBA had a big effect on Holness, supporting his career in supply chain management and introducing him to lifelong friends. As the class liaison, he still hosts a monthly Zoom reunion.
He returned to the classroom in retirement to explore his passion for geology, embarking on a master’s of science under Brian Hart, a research scientist at Surface Science Western.
After taking a space law class with law professor Valerie Oosterveld, his path was set. So intrigued by the idea of extracting resources outside of Earth, he applied to do a master of studies in law.
“I became interested in the legality of mining in space, which all the lawyers are arguing about right now,” Holness said. “I hope we will be able to avoid creating the same problems we have on Earth, with the big scars you can see from space where we’ve extracted materials.”
A purple and proud family
His thesis on space resource extraction was a 277-page effort with nearly 1,200 citations. It was a challenge, but a fulfilling one, Holness said.
“There were times where I lost motivation. But I was able to plan and remotivate myself to achieve this goal.” – Trevor Holness, MBA’73, MSc’21, receiving his master of studies in law
In some ways, it was a family effort. Holness gave credit to his supportive wife, Rose Anne.
“Between the breakfast nook and the living room, I would read an article and set it down. So there were these little stacks all over our condo. My wife is very happy that I’ve finished, because we’ve finally thrown them all away,” he chuckled.
Holness has two sons, Trevor and Brendan, both graduates of Western. His wife also took business and economics classes before leaving to start her own business.
His oldest son, Trevor Holness, BA’99, MBA’06, earned two degrees at Western.
Younger son Brendan Holness, BA’07, will be in the crowd to watch his father graduate – again – at Alumni Hall, his dad said.
Brendan, now a lawyer, recently shared a decades-old memory with his father.
Holness took both his boys to the 1989 Vanier Cup in Toronto, where the Mustangs beat the Saskatchewan Huskies 35-10. It had a big impact on his younger son.
“From that day forth Brendan wanted to go to Western. He ended up going to both Western and University of Saskatchewan,” Holness said.
New lease on life
Holness has had a new lease on life ever since he suffered a cardiac arrest eight years ago. Firefighters rushed in to resuscitate him with CPR and a defibrillator.
“I literally died in my wife’s arms,” he said. “I’m fortunate to still be here.”
Though he’s not eyeing any further degree programs, Holness still won’t have time for much TV.
He hopes to use the knowledge gained through his master of studies in law to write articles for both academic and public audiences. Earlier this year, he presented at an annual space convention in Luxembourg, home to the European Space Resources Innovation Centre.
All the positive feedback he’s received has helped inspire his next chapter writing and consulting on space resource extraction.
“I am a lifelong learner. I enjoyed being back in school with people who were young enough to be my grandchildren. I think I probably mentored one or two of them in a quiet way,” he said.
Always a student with mediocre grades until his MBA, Holness said he never realized how much he would enjoy higher education.
A 94 per cent on a paper during his graduate diploma – about foreign investment in the Canadian critical minerals industry – remains a source of pride.
“I didn’t realize I had this intellectual bent to me. My wife said, ‘If I knew you were so academically inclined, you would have gone back to do a PhD years ago,’” Holness said.
“I wish I had done it earlier.”
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Holness will receive a master of studies in law during Western’s fall convocation ceremonies, Oct. 23 to 25. He joins more than 370,000 Western alumni in 160 countries around the world.
