In 1912, Dr. T. Alexander Davies, a Toronto doctor, who arrived for postgraduate studies at Vienna's Medical School, came with a faculty offer (head of the violin department) from Colonel Albert Gooderham, president of the newly established Canadian Academy of Music. A more prestigious offer came at the same time, the Philadelphia Orchestra needed a new conductor. Von Kunits, whose first love was conducting, was recovering from a mild heart attack, and so decided in favor of Toronto instead. (The man who accepted the Philadelphia position declined by von Kunits was Leopold Stokowski.)
