Eleven Out of Ten: The Life and Work of David Pecaut

City builder David Pecaut has been called a visionary and a pragmatist, passionate, compassionate, indefatigable, a catalyst, and a trailblazer. Most of these accolades flowed from his volunteer work. He helped Toronto restore its tourism industry post-SARS by chairing Toronto03, launched by a flamboyant Rolling Stones concert. He also co-founded the Luminato arts festival.

Pecaut worked as easily with the homeless, minorities, and poverty activists as with billionaires, corporate CEOs, and labour leaders. His numerous endeavours included the Strong Neighbourhood Task Force, the Pathways to Education program, Career Edge, the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, DiverseCity, and Greening Greater Toronto.

In the natural order of events, David Pecaut would have written his own memoir. When it became obvious that because of cancer his time was running out, he took copious notes and recorded interviews with friends, colleagues, and family, all of which are the basis for this book by Helen Burstyn, his wife. On December 14, 2009, David Pecaut passed away.