Bay Street veteran Patrick Farmer Wednesday announced that he intends to donate $1 million worth of shares in Cymbria Corp, (TSX:CYB) where he is chairman, to the Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation over a five-year period.

Farmer said that he donated a portion of his Cymbria class A shares on August 2, and will continue with his donations over the next four years. Even after the donation, he will remain one of Cymbria’s largest shareholders.

“I’m pleased to have the opportunity to support Toronto General & Western Hospital’s ground-breaking research centres and programs that focus on finding answers to neural-related diseases and disorders,” he said.

Cymbria, which trades on the TSX, actively manages a portfolio primarily comprised of global equities and an investment in EdgePoint Wealth Management Inc. Farmer is also CEO of EdgePoint Wealth Management, and a founding partner, chief compliance officer and chief operating officer of EdgePoint Investment Group Inc.

Before starting EdgePoint, he was head of North American retail investments at Invesco Ltd., which followed a stint at Invesco predecessor, Trimark Investment Management), where he was executive vice president and CIO from 2000 to 2007 and head of fixed-income investments from 1993 to 2001. He began his career in 1985 as an investment analyst at Ontario Municipal Retirement System (OMERS), and worked at Crown Life Insurance Company/Crown Life Investment Management Co. before joining Trimark.