With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/740454
NOVEMBER 2016 BCBUSINESS 33 COURTESY OF UBC & SANTA ONO once in his 20s. Unlike Ken, he doesn't attri- bute his depressions and attempts (which didn't require hos- pitalization but did prompt treatment) to any particular cause. In his gentle way, he deflects any blame: "I'm not saying my parents were the issue. I think it's a case-by-case basis. It's hard really to say that this is the root cause." Both boys went on, ultimately, to be extremely success- ful—although they took different paths. Ken rebelled for years, dropped out of high school, became a competitive bike-racer (something his parents considered a waste of time) and floundered at university before finding mentors and a path. (That path has taken some interesting turns. Ken became an associate producer of the recently released film The Man Who Knew Infinity, where he coached Dev Patel in the role of the brilliant Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan— someone whom Ken had idolized his whole life.) Santa was the steadier one—the tortoise to Ken's erratic hare. Instead of becoming a company man, he went off to the University of Chicago to study biology and then to McGill University for a doctorate in experimental medicine. He became a sort of parent to his younger brother—at one point taking Ken in, in Montreal when he dropped out of high school, nurturing him, finding him work and g iv ing him some balance. While at McGill, Ono also met Wendy Yip, a Montrealer study- ing immunolog y, whom he would marry in 1989. Yip is a powerhouse in her own right— the daughter of two accomplished Cana- d i a n ac adem ic s, a patent lawyer and someone who has dedicated her volun- teer time in recent years to schools, poverty programs and, in Cincinnati, the local zoo. Yip also intro- duced Ono to Chris- tianity—something that has had a pro- found influence on his life and helped him overcome some of his lingering doubts about himself. "When you're struggling with your own self-worth, that leads you to think about your core beliefs. My faith journey was a very personal one." The minister at Yip's Anglican church in Montreal took an interest in him. Ono went to Sunday school for weeks with 11-year-olds to learn about the Bible. "I was tremendously touched and moved by that experience and I was baptized on Easter Sunday." He was 23. That faith is what guides many of his actions now. Ono has been on a steady upward climb since Montreal, obtaining posi- tions at Harvard and University College London. He almost came to UBC in 2005 as a professor in the medical faculty, but was attracted to Atlanta's Emory University (where Ken is on the faculty) instead because it offered him the chance to move into administration work. From there, he moved in 2010 to the University of Cincinnati as a vice-president. When the SACHIKO. THE PAIR WERE "TIGER PARENTS," IN THE WORDS OF ONO'S YOUNGER BROTHER, KEN FAMILY ALBUM (Clockwise from top left) Three generations at UBC; with his wife, Wendy Yip, on their wedding day; Ono's former church in Cincinnati, Church of the Redeemer in Hyde Park; his daughters, Sarah and Juliana; (opposite page) Performing with his brother Ken