When life comes full circle
Devin Kreuger calls his decision to include UTM in his will “a wonderful full circle moment.”
The former U of T Mississauga staff member and his husband, Alon Metser, BEd’95, added a
bequest to their wills in 2017 to help advance UTM’s strategic research goals. Their gift is undesignated, meaning it will help fund high priority needs within any research project in any field, from the purchase of new equipment to post-doctoral research fellowships to pilot studies led by promising young scholars.
Metser, a private tutor, and Kreuger, who was director of the office of the vice-principal of research until his early retirement two years ago, says the idea was sparked by their shared belief in UTM’s mission to create and share knowledge.
“I very much wanted to work at the university because I recognized that I needed to work somewhere that aligned with my values. I devoted 20-some years to that mission. What a wonderful way to continue that,” Kreuger says.
He first joined U of T’s St. George campus in 1999 as a contract negotiator for the Technology Transfer Office. His career took a dramatic turn in 2003 after a call from Ulli Krull, UTM’s vice-principal of research who later served as the Vice-President, UofT and Principal, UTM. Krull recruited Kreuger to Mississauga to help build the campus’s research enterprise.
“He let me do my thing and, as time progressed, the role and the portfolio expanded,” Kreuger remembers. By 2009, Kreuger was leading all aspects of UTM’s research, ethics and knowledge transfer programs and services for faculty, students, staff, librarians and the community-at-large.
Among many accomplishments over nearly 18 years in the office, he is most proud to have built an infrastructure and a team that were seen as accessible, knowledgeable and committed to helping scholars succeed.
“I felt I was contributing to the world through my work,” Kreuger says.
His love of his job and the university were contagious. So much so, in fact, that when the couple’s lawyer suggested they think about supporting a charity in their wills, Metser landed quickly on the idea of donating to UTM.
“We both had a lot of gratitude toward UTM. Devin had spent the bulk of his career there and his work was very appreciated.” It didn’t hurt that Metser was also a U of T alumnus, having received his degree from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) in 1995.
The couple doesn’t have children and their families are financially secure, so they knew they had the flexibility to manage their estate in a way that delivers the greatest impact.
“I’ve always believed our lives are better because of universities,” Kreuger says.
Metser nods in agreement. “The value of knowledge is one of the deepest values that Devin and I share, so it goes without saying that a gift to help make sense of the world is probably the greatest good that could come from our lives.”