William Thorsell, OOnt (born 6 July 1945 at Camrose, Alberta) is a Canadian journalist, former editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, and past director and chief executive officer of the Royal Ontario Museum.^[1]

After his tenure at the ROM he became a distinguished senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. ^[2]

In 1966, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Alberta and earned his Master of Arts degree from that institution in 1970.^[3] He received a Master of Public and International Affairs from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1972.

In 1975, Thorsell joined the Edmonton Journal's editorial board for approximately a year. After a brief term on The Globe and Mail's editorial board in Toronto, he returned to the Edmonton Journal in 1977 as an associate editor.^[4]

In 1984, he rejoined The Globe and Mail writing for its Report on Business and returning to the paper's editorial board.^[4] He began a 10-year term as that paper's editor-in-chief from 1989 to 1999, after which he chaired the paper's editorial board for several months.^[4] In 1995, the University of Alberta awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws.

While serving as editor of The Globe and Mail, Thorsell came out as gay in an interview with fab.^[5] As one of the most prominent openly gay Canadians, and one who held a powerful position within the media, he has been credited as one of the key figures behind the evolving public image of LGBT people in the 1990s and 2000s.^[4]

In August 2000, Thorsell was appointed to the top management position at the Royal Ontario Museum. He was awarded the Order of Ontario in 2007. ^[6] In 2010, he was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (2010).^[7]