Estey, Willard Zebedee

▪ 2003

      Canadian attorney and judge (b. Oct. 10, 1919, Saskatoon, Sask.—d. Jan. 25, 2002, Toronto, Ont.), served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from 1977 to 1988. Estey was educated at the University of Saskatchewan (B.A., 1940; LL.B., 1942) and Harvard Law School (LL.M., 1946). As an attorney in private practice in Toronto from 1947 to 1972, he was recognized for his expertise in commercial and tax law. Estey was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1973 and became the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario three years later. As a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, he was best known for heading the Estey Commission, which in 1985 the federal government charged with investigating the collapse of the Canadian Commercial Bank and the Northland Bank. The commission was equally critical of the banks' managers and government regulators, and recommendations by the commission led to a number of improvements in Canada's banking-supervision system. Estey was named a Companion to the Order of Canada in 1990.

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