The T. Buck Suzuki Foundation is named after Tatsuro "Buck" Suzuki, a Japanese-Canadian fisherman and an early environmental activist. Born on a float house on Don Island in the Fraser River, Suzuki began commercial fishing with his father on the river during the early 1920s.

Throughout his life, he was devoted to the preservation of fish habitat and frequently spoke out against the dumping of sewage and industrial waste into the Fraser River He was a passionate advocate for the protection of the river and its environment long before the term "environmentalist" became familiar to most Canadians.

For many years, his name was closely associated with the environmental campaigns initiated by the United Fisherman and Allied Workers Union and he won wide respect among fishermen for his advocacy. He was also a founding member of the Society Promoting Environmental Cooperation (SPEC) and was active in the Pacific Salmon Society.

For both fishermen and environmentalists, Suzuki was a ready source of information on Fraser River pollution and they regularly went to him for advice, even during the last months of his life. He died in 1977 at the age of 62.