Ted Warburton: partner of first york
An experienced estate planner and insurance advisor, Ted manages First York as partner with Ted Polci.
In this complex area of insurance and estate planning, experience and credentials are vitally important. Ted Warburton has been in the top one per cent of life insurance and financial services professionals for more than 30 years, a member of the Million Dollar Round Table since 1973, and a qualifier for the Top of the Table honours.
A charter member of the Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting, Ted has served as Toronto president of Advocis, the professional association of insurance and financial advisors. He has served as a member of a number of national committees for Advocis and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
As owner/partner of First York Insurance Agency Limited and First York National, Ted enjoys working at the highest levels of the insurance and estate planning fields.
Community Service – More than 40 years of commitment to family and society.
Ted Warburton brought the Make-A-Wish Foundation to Toronto. He learned about the foundation — which grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy — at a convention in 1987. He started the Toronto chapter in 1993. His initiative led to the establishment of a Canada-wide organization; he has been a director of the Make-A-Wish (Canada) Foundation at the national level.
Ted is also involved in conservation and has been a board member of the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust.
A family man, Ted and his wife of over 43 years, Betty, have two grown children. His daughter Angela practices traditional Chinese medicine in Vancouver and Sean, his son, is an associate advisor at First York.
The accomplished individual – Musician, Artist, Theatrical Producer.
An accomplished professional musician, Ted entered the world of work with a trumpet in his hand. Ted's drive and business sense made him financially successful as a musician. Ted lived in London England, working in West End musicals for three years and then returned to Canada joining the band that toured with the annual musical revue, Spring Thaw, for three seasons interspersed with various other engagements including the Stratford Festival.
After surviving cross-country bus trips that included fright-night journeys through mountain ranges still locked deep in winter, Ted permanently returned to Toronto. He'd been bitten by the theatrical bug. Tuned into the enduring Canadian fascination with comedy sketches that lampoon politicians and a half-thawed lifestyle, Ted began a new career as a producer, putting on revues at Theatre in the Dell and the St. Lawrence Centre.
Had Canadian television been a mature medium in the early 1970s and offered opportunities for televised revues, Ted might still be in the entertainment industry. These days, his creative side is expressed in his paintings. His oil paintings hang in prominent locations in many homes in North Toronto and the GTA. He doesn't sell his paintings; he gives them to his friends, and quietly notes that his paintings always seem to be on display when he visits.
The essence: What's it all about?
They seem worlds apart. The life of music and entertainment and the life devoted to insurance, estate planning and risk management. Ted Warburton has found great satisfaction in both. He's inclined to talk more about the service than the entertainment.
“I recently met a fellow at the gym who had been away from work for six months, recovering from paralysis,” he said. “It was completely unexpected. A bad reaction to a flu shot. It was a real reminder that things happen, not always what we want, and not always what we expect.”
“Unless you have made some preparations, things that happen can devastate lives. Not just the life of one person but sometimes the lives of many people who are connected.”
“When I look at my work, I am most pleased when I find outcomes are better than they would have been without our input. It's mixed feelings really. It's terrible to see things happen to someone with whom you have developed a close relationship, but it's good to know that your efforts have helped to turn a potentially chaotic situation into one where things happen in a more orderly and acceptable fashion, and support is available for the people close to my client.”
