Many institutions in this city, named after philanthropists and volunteers, have changed hands over the years but not undergone a corresponding name change:
Stelco will always be Stelco not American Steel!
Dofasco will always be Dofasco not Arcelor Mittal!
Nora Frances Henderson Hospital should always be Nora Frances Henderson Hospital!
They do not give for the recognition nor do they give for the good press!! These great people give because they see a need and, without any thought to personal gain or recognition, they fill that need. Hamilton is known as the Volunteer Capital of Ontario, and for that matter, Canada. Many people volunteer their time to fill the needs of an ever expanding city.
David Braley
Owner of auto parts manufacturer Orlick Industries and the B.C. Lions, Braley provided a vision to transform a city along with a cheque for $50 million to McMaster University's medical school in June. The money will be used for a downtown family health centre, a human embryonic stem cell library and a future fund. Braley's vision is for up to $500 million in private money, leveraged with government funding, to build one of the world's greatest medical schools and a new foundation for the economy of Hamilton.
Braley has been a fixture in Hamilton's arts, education, sports and entertainment landscapes. For instance, Orlick has long funded free general admission to the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Braley's name hangs on McMaster's athletics centre thanks to a $5 million donation. In May, Braley and his wife Nancy Gordon donated $5 million to St. Joseph's Healthcare for a kidney-urinary care unit and 18 operating rooms, $10 million to Hamilton Health Sciences for a cardiac, vascular and stroke research institute. Braley, a Hamilton native and McMaster grad, has said his donations are his way of paying back his employees.
Charles and Margaret Juravinski
This couple personifies giving in Hamilton. They have donated $43 million to health care in the city. Their names adorn the Juravinski Cancer Centre, which is doing vital treatment and research work in Hamilton, and they have provided $10 million in an outright donation to rebuild Henderson Hospital and another $5 million to match other donations from the community. Juravinski, 78, made his fortune as a developer and founder of Flamboro Downs.
Bob Young and family
It could be argued that Bob Young's purchase and revitalization of the moribund Tiger-Cats has been one of the greatest acts of philanthropy in Hamilton's history. All kidding aside, the multimillionaire founder of Red Hat software developer and Internet publishing tycoon has injected a new sense of optimism in the future of this city that extends well beyond Ivor Wynne Stadium. Other community leaders have cited Young and his passion for the city as their inspiration.
Young does not publicize his community giving but is locally known as a generous benefactor.
Joyce Young of Ancaster, Bob's aunt, made a stunning donation of $40 million in Red Hat stock to the Hamilton Community Foundation in 2000. It was then the second-largest single gift by a Canadian. It immediately doubled the $2 million HCF was handing out to more than 200 local organizations. The remarkable act also had unforeseen consequences in inspiring Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation's successful and unprecedented $100-million Cornerstone of Care campaign. As then foundation president and CEO Mike Farrell said of Joyce Young's contribution: "A sea change started then in philanthropy in Hamilton."
Ron Joyce
The co-founder of the Tim Hortons empire served up a $10 million injection to McMaster to help build its new 6,000-seat stadium in June 2005. It is the largest private donation in the history of Canadian university athletics. Joyce's name also hangs on Hamilton Place, thanks to a $5-million donation in 1998.
Joyce, 76, a former Hamilton police officer who arrived alone in this city at 16 with $35 in his pocket, also recently gave $10 million to help McMaster develop its Burlington campus, and is known for his work helping underprivileged children.
Michael DeGroote
The largest cash gift in Canadian history turned McMaster medical school into one of the wealthiest in the country. DeGroote, who grew Laidlaw Services into a transportation and waste services giant, stunned about 500 guests at the university's student centre when he announced the $105-million gift in 2003. Health sciences dean Dr. John Kelton said the gift would allow McMaster to "build a research infrastructure that will win Nobel prizes."
DeGroote's name is all over McMaster's campus. A $3-million contribution led to the renaming of the business school in his honour in 1992. With the $105 million, came the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery and the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster.
DeGroote, a Belgian immigrant who had to drop out of high school to work on a tobacco farm, is also a former owner of the Ticats. He is now retired in Bermuda.
Michael Lee-Chin
The chairman of Burlington-based AIC Ltd., who grew it into the largest privately held mutual fund in Canada, Chin donated $5 million to his alma mater McMaster in 2001. The Flamborough resident is best known for his $30-million gift to the Royal Ontario Museum, resulting in the Michael Lee Chin Crystal.
Lee Chin has also been a significant benefactor of the United Way and other Hamilton organizations.
Hamilton Community Foundation
HCF manages donations and endowments and flows funds to a wide range of charitable and community groups. All gifts are pooled and invested. Grants are made from the income on investments, while the principal remains untouched. The foundation, launched in 1954, was the first community foundation in Ontario. In 1956, the organization had $2,000 in capital funds and the first grant was $70 given to the Seniors' Club on East Avenue South in 1957. As of March 2006, HCF had $115 million in assets. In 2006-07, HCF received almost $7 million in gifts and almost $5 million was distributed as grants. Total grants disbursed since 1954: $39 million.
Bob and Mildred Kemp
The couple recently watched the realization of their dream: The opening of the Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice.
A dedicated family doctor for 51 years, Kemp was critical in the decades-long fight to establish the St. Joseph's Centre for Ambulatory Health Services in Stoney Creek. After retiring from his medical practice, which was in his Stoney Creek home, the Kemps gave away the building to be the site of the first Bob Kemp Hospice in 1996. It became a compassionate, loving place for terminally ill patients and their families.
In July, a larger $4.2-million hospice was opened on the Mountain.
The couple is widely admired for their community service, selflessness and vision. Even at their ages -- she's 97, he's 94 -- the Kemps worked to raise money for the new hospice.
Mark Chamberlain
Chamberlain, past president and owner of camera system innovator Wescam (sold in 2002 to L-3 Communications) and current partner, president and CEO of Trivaris, which invests in early-stage technology companies, does not publicize his personal or corporate donations. But his volunteer activities speak loud and clear: He is chair of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, has spent five years on the board of Hamilton Community Foundation, is partner in Options for Homes, a nonprofit providing quality affordable housing; co-chair of the Hamilton Civic Coalition; and chair of the Golden Horseshoe Innovation Alliance. He has also been instrumental in the push to bring a McMaster campus to Burlington and to build a new athletic centre at Mac. A part of the annual profits of Trivaris, and the companies it supports, is invested in community initiatives. Trivaris also funds full-time staff to support several community initiatives, including a program called Let's Talk Science which aims to raise the profile and increase science learning at all ages. The goal, says Chamberlain, is to create a more "innovative culture."
Les Chater
A retired Stelco engineer, Chater died just a couple of weeks before he was to break ground on a new Hamilton YMCA complex on Rymal Road East that will bear his name. Chater, 97, died in May. The $18-million complex will include a library, pool, child-care centre and a gymnasium. Chater donated $2 million to build the Mountain YMCA and one in Waterdown. Chater was a YMCA member since 1929 and a strong advocate for young people. He credited his time working out at the Y with helping him survive his internment as a prisoner of war in Japan. "My money goes where it's most needed, especially to underprivileged kids," Chater, a longtime Mountain resident, said in 2005.
Joey Tanenbaum
A massive 211-piece, $75- to $90-million donation of artwork to the Art Gallery of Hamilton by renowned Toronto philanthropist Joey Tanenbaum has been credited with kickstarting a fundraising campaign that literally changed the face of the downtown gallery. The gift gave Hamilton the single largest collection of European masters from 1850 to 1900 anywhere in the world outside the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. An $18-million expansion, unveiled in 2005, made the AGH the second- largest public art gallery in Ontario.
Tanenbaum, whose family had a scrap metal empire that began in Hamilton, made the donation in 2003. He and his wife Toby have said more of their collection will come to Hamilton.
Irving Zucker
Hamilton's most celebrated philanthropist died in 2002 at 82. He had amassed his wealth in radio stations, electricity and life insurance, and spent much of his life contributing to the city by sharing his fortune and his passion. In 1967, he created the Irving Zucker Foundation. His $500,000 donation was a cornerstone of the campaign that built what is now called the Dofasco Centre for the Arts. He mentored and nurtured new artists, donated millions of dollars worth of paintings and sculptures to the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 1991, committed a $1-million endowment of a chair at McMaster University's faculty of health sciences and established scholarships there. He supported various Jewish charities, area hospitals, the United Way and fundraising to build Hamilton Place. In 1997, he became a member of the Order of Canada in the field of philanthropy.
Morgan Firestone
Philanthropist Margaret Juravinski, who has donated millions to Hamilton's health care, once described Firestone as a "role model" who started the ball rolling for herself and husband Charles when it came to supporting worthy causes.
Firestone, born into the famous tire family, left a post at the business to begin his own empire, Glendale International. He parlayed his business success into a lengthy philanthropic career. He established the Morgan Firestone Foundation (it folded in August) which donated millions of dollars to health care, educational and other community organizations. Over the years, Firestone developed a special fundraising relationship with St. Joseph's Hospital, including its health-care foundation and world-renowned Firestone Regional Chest and Allergy Unit. Among his more high-profile gifts was $1 million to the fundraising campaign to establish the Hamilton Regional Cancer Clinic. He also donated $500,000 to build Ancaster's community centre, now named in his honour. More than 46 local institutions and 15 community service events owe their financial viability to Firestone.
Dofasco
Hamilton's steelmaker has provided $25 million in the last 10 years in corporate donations. The money has gone to a wide range of charities, schools and community organizations. Among Dofasco's biggest pledges in the last decade: $2.7 million to McMaster University; $1 million to Mohawk College; $2.5 million to Hamilton Health Sciences; $1 million to the Hamilton Regional Cancer Centre Foundation; $600,000 to Theatre Aquarius (since renamed the Dofasco Centre for the Arts); $500,000 to the Art Gallery of Hamilton; $250,000 to the Children's Aid Society; and $250,000 to St. Peter's Hospital. In addition, the Dofasco Employees Fund contributed more than $700,000 to local charities and community groups in 2006, and has donated more than $8 million in the last 10 years. ArcelorMittal (Dofasco's new parent company) has vowed to continue Dofasco's long history of civic involvement.
United Way
United Way of Burlington & Greater Hamilton has helped to shape this city for 80 years. Last year, United Way invested more than $4.5 million in 64 agencies and 133 programs and services across a wide spectrum of fields. It's so far-reaching that one in three residents uses one of those agencies. United Way goes beyond funneling dollars and provides leadership and support to the nonprofit sector and connects community members to find long-term solutions to the issues that affect the community. The local United Way has 6,000 volunteers, 13 employees and more than 27,000 donors. There are more than 850 workplace campaigns that raise almost 60 per cent of the agency's annual campaign target. Corporate donations contribute about 25 per cent, while special events make up 10 per cent. The goal this year is to raise $4.7 million in Hamilton and $2 million in Burlington.
