He and his partners acquired an Ontario silver mine called LaRose, which was the basis of the great fortune he came to amass.

[1] As a philanthropist, he became interested in financing the construction of the astronomical observatory at the University of Toronto, which due to his sudden death, was completed by his widow Jessie Dunlap.

He subsequently moved to Mattawa, Ontario, where he began practicing law.

His widow, Jessie Donalda Dunlap, announced in 1930 that she would finance the construction of an observatory for the University of Toronto located on Yonge Street (just south of Richmond Hill), in memory of her husband and his great interest in astronomy.

The couple's remains share the family grave in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.