When he was in his first year at York University, Michael Tulloch got a job proofreading letters of admission.

He didn’t much care for them.

“Michael was the type of student who said, ‘No, these aren’t right. Let’s just rewrite them all,” recalls Lucy Fromowitz, then the director of admissions.

Tulloch found the letters too formal, and suggested they be worded in more of an engaging, welcoming, and emphatic way. Fromowitz took him up on it.

“From the very beginning that’s what distinguished him,” said Fromowitz, who now works as the assistant vice-president of student life at the University of Toronto.

“He gives thought to everything he does and he looks for how to improve it, do it better.”

It’s a code that Tulloch has lived by since he was called to the bar more than 20 years ago.

The hard work has paid off. Late last month, Tulloch was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal as the first black judge to sit on the bench.

The Jamaican-born justice came to Toronto with his parents at age 9. Before he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Justice in 2003 — one of the youngest ever — he worked as an assistant Crown attorney and a criminal defence lawyer. He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Tulloch said he’s honoured to be the first black judge but “my blackness does not define me.

“That’s what has enabled me to reach to where I have. I’m black, yes, but the colour of my skin is incidental to who I am,” he said.

“My involvement with academic institutions, it has nothing to do with my race, it has to do with education, education for all students.”

Tulloch’s thirst for knowledge was evident at Central Peel Secondary School in Brampton, where history teacher Bruce Adlam remembers finding his star student in the school library studying during his spare time.

“I just couldn’t speak highly enough of his integrity, his joy of living and his positive philosophical outlook on life. He’s just an incredibly well-rounded person,” said Adlam.

Prior to becoming a judge, Tulloch mentored students across Ontario, including at underprivileged schools in Toronto. He also founded the Second Chance Scholarship Foundation, a charity that helps at-risk youth.

“Michael has a huge heart,” said Melanie Bremner, a lawyer and director of the foundation.

He is also a man of faith, said his childhood friend Dalton Roach, now a pastor at Rhema Christian Ministries at Downsview Park.

Roach says his friend showed interest in the law at a young age, but he had to work hard to get to where he is today.

“By no means was he born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” said Roach. “He has never forgotten his humble beginnings and those that had an impact on his life.”

Marlys Edwardh, a prominent criminal lawyer who worked with Tulloch in 2006 on a review panel he chaired on Osgoode Hall’s admissions policy, said she was delighted when she heard of his historic appointment.

“I think he’s a man with clear insight into how law school has to relate to many different communities today, not just the Bay street community,” she said.

“He was very concerned that the law became a place where people could find a professional career even if they were First Nations, or black or Chinese.”

Source: thestar.com