Tom Patterson, 84; Founded Canada’s Stratford Festival

Tom Patterson, 84, who founded the internationally acclaimed Stratford Festival of Canada, died Wednesday in Toronto after a long illness.

When the theater company was launched in southwestern Ontario in 1953, Patterson managed to attract well-known Shakespearean director Tyrone Guthrie. Alec Guinness played the king of France in the festival’s first production of “All’s Well That Ends Well,” and Stratford has earned respect around the world and has drawn top name performers.

“His was an extraordinary vision at an extraordinary time,” Richard Monette, the festival’s artistic director, said in a statement.

A native of Stratford, Patterson served in the Canadian army during World War II. After the war, he studied history at the University of Toronto and worked as an associate editor on a trade magazine. He came up with the idea for the festival in 1951 and, after gaining the backing of local civic officials, started it two years later.

After the initial year of the festival, when Patterson served as general manager, he co-founded the touring theatrical company Canadian Players with actor Douglas Campbell.

He later became instrumental in a host of cultural innovations in Canada and founded the Canadian Theater Center, National Theater School of Canada and Dawson City Gold Rush Festival. Patterson worked in various capacities with the Stratford Festival until 1967, consulted for theater companies across North America and worked in the film industry.