GEOFF ROBINS/The Globe and Mail
But it was at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts in the 1970s and at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre in the early 2000s, where Mr. Leighton left perhaps his greatest marks, combining his shrewd business acumen and love of the arts to lead both institutions with skill and determination. Unlike many part-time chairs, Mr. Leighton dove into the job, renting an apartment in Ottawa with his wife, Peggy, and becoming a regular presence at the NAC. An amateur violinist, Mr. Leighton loved classical music so he and Peggy travelled with the NAC orchestra whenever it toured abroad.
David S.R. Leighton was born in Regina, Sask. on Feb. 20, 1928, the second son of Gordon E. Leighton, a newspaper editor, and his wife, Mary Leighton. The family moved to Ottawa during the Second World War, where David’s father took management responsibilities at the Defence Department. Despite a successful academic career, Mr. Leighton was looking for another challenge. He was approached by the chair of Banff School of Fine Arts, which was looking for a new chief executive to help transform a six-week program into a year-round centre for the arts. Leighton jumped at the opportunity, moving his young family of five children to Banff in 1970. “We got in the best people in Canada, the best people in each discipline,” he later recalled in an interview.