Our donor community
At McMaster University, we recognize that every donor is unique and every donation is extraordinary.
Annual reporting
Each year, we gather a sampling of stories from across campus to illustrate the immense impact that donors have when they support McMaster.
Supporting Mac potential
McMaster is bursting with potential. The people, the ideas, the collaboration – there is amazing and endless potential emerging at Mac each and every day. Here are some of the stories of everyday donors who activate this potential with their generosity.
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Why Ann gives
"I was helped in my McMaster education while I was raising six children. This education was very important for me to support my children. They, in turn, were all able to pursue their dreams too." -Ann, Faculty of Social Sciences 1971
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Why Roger gives
“At the end of my first year undergrad science in April 1964, I was awarded $250 (half the $500 Squire Scholarship for Math contest), the $50 Shenstone Prize (for highest marks in Physics and Chemistry) and the $100 Beauty Counselors Scholarship (for highest chemistry mark going into second year) That $400 total paid for most of my next year’s tuition of $465! I managed to finish four years living away from home debt-free (there were no government student loans in those days).” -Roger, Faculty of Science 1967
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Why Amanda gives
"During my time at McMaster, scholarships helped me pay my tuition every year. I was able to maintain my entrance scholarship, but one year I received an $800 scholarship from the University. It appeared on my account and I had to look it up because I didn't even know such scholarships existed! This is why I choose to donate to the University, because I hope it will help other students get scholarships, just like I did." - Amanda, Faculty of Humanities
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Why Maguid gives
"I give to McMaster in recognition of the tremendous role my education and experience at Mac played in my life. I want to help others to benefit from experience at Mac and build lifelong associations and friendships. Thank you Mac for making me who I am today. I am grateful for my fortunate positive experience at Mac." -Maguid, Faculty of Engineering 1974
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Why Erin gives
"It's important to me to make philanthropic contributions because I believe that's such a critical element of citizenship, and I proudly support McMaster Arts & Science because artsci changed my life. I want to do what I can to ensure future generations of artscis have the best experience possible. I love that, as a McMaster donor, I can stay connected to my alma mater in this very meaningful way." - Erin, Arts & Science 2008
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Why Ron gives
"After switching programs a couple of times at McMaster, I finished four years in the music education program in three years time. I went on to work in the music retail business and started my own choral ensemble. In 2000, I went back to do my mast'ers in music in choral conducting at the University of Toronto. Now I am the conductor of three choirs (Voices, Healey Willan Singers and Yip's Children's Choir (Canada)), as well as the supervisor at the Roy Thomson Hall Music Store, and teacher of theory & singing at Pro Music Conservatory of Music. The time at Mac I met my best friends and we're still in touch over 30 years later. Good memories!" -Ron Cheung, 1991 Faculty of Humanities, supporter of the McMaster Choir
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Why Lori gives
"I give because I love knowing that my support provides countless opportunities for students to enrich their studies. The opportunities I had through my involvement with the Women’s Basketball team and the MacServe program helped shape who I am today. I’m grateful to the people who supported me and proud to support future generations of Marauders!" - Lori, DeGroote School of Business 2006
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Why Hamed gives
"I graduated from McMaster University less than two years ago. During my time at McMaster, I was a winner of generous Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) support three times, which was a big help for me financially while I was completing my Ph.D. degree. The very first thing on my mind after graduation was how I can pay back. I am glad that these small gifts to OGS have given me the chance to do exactly that." -Hamed, DeGroote School of Business PhD 2014
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Why Marian gives
"My first teaching position was in Hamilton. I had never been there until I arrived to begin my teaching career. It seemed sensible to begin night and summer classes. After four years, I went to Mac for a year and graduated in 1957. Ian Wallis saw me in the Refectory line-up and we were married in 1959. I continue to support the many charities on our list, including McMaster." -Marian, Faculty of Humanities 1957
Share why YOU support Mac potential! Click here to tell your story.
Stories of our donors' generosity & vision
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From one scientist to another
Towards the end of his second year at McMaster, Logo Warille received some good news. He had been awarded a bursary. “It was a really great thing,” says Warille of the Douglas and Beverly Coleman Bursary. “It really touched me that McMaster alumni would think about helping students.” Currently pursuing his Honours BSc in biochemistry, Warille decided to find out who the donors were. He wanted to send them a thank-you letter.
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Supporting LIVELab the perfect way to remember professor emeritus
“It was the perfect match for us.” Marjorie Smith and members of her family who work at McMaster have a combined 90 years of service between them. Together, they choose to support the McMaster LIVELab to honour her late husband Grant Smith, who was a Mac professor and loved classical music.
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Paying forward an enriching student experience
Anna D'Angela has spent much of her time at Mac working to enrich her school and community. As an Arts & Science student, she took on numerous leadership roles, including serving on the MSU executive. Now, as an MBA student, Anna gives back as a volunteer and a donor.
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Discovering Canada's next generation of leaders
The Wilson Foundation is establishing a new awards program hosted at McMaster which will nurture and cultivate the country’s next generation of leaders, an elite group of students who are expected to tackle some of society’s most perplexing issues.
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Stemming the tide of the Canadian "Silver Tsunami”
A unique gift from the University’s Chancellor Suzanne Labarge to McMaster and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) will help develop and provide family doctors and caregivers with better ways of identifying and treating seniors with dementia.
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A Beam for the Liberal Arts
Chancellor Emeritus Lynton 'Red' Wilson signs a beam destined for the top of the building that will bear his name.
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McMaster arts community gets first look at Fitzhenry Studios and Atrium
Just a year after ground was broken on the construction site, McMaster has officially opened the Dr. Robert & Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry Studios and Atrium.
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An amazing discovery from the Levy bequest
A 17th-century portrait in the McMaster Museum of Art's collection and thought to be by Flemish artist Michael Sweerts has been proven to actually be by British artist Mary Beale - England's first professional female painter.
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David Braley Health Sciences Centre opens in downtown Hamilton
McMaster has officially opened the $84.6 million David Braley Health Sciences Centre at the downtown Hamilton McMaster Health Campus. The 192,000-square-foot facility will be home to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine as well as the City of Hamilton’s Public Health Services.
From one scientist to another
Towards the end of his second year at McMaster, Logo Warille received some good news. He had been awarded a bursary.
“It was a really great thing,” says Warille of the Douglas and Beverly Coleman Bursary. “It really touched me that McMaster alumni would think about helping students.”
Currently pursuing his Honours BSc in biochemistry, Warille decided to find out who the donors were. He wanted to send them a thank-you letter.
He discovered that Douglas Coleman ’54 was a renowned scientist who had received a number of international awards for his pioneering work on the biology of obesity and diabetes. His wife, Beverly, was the only woman to graduate in chemistry from McMaster in 1954.
Together, they were generous supporters of McMaster during their lifetime. Coleman also established the Beverly Coleman Memorial Bursary, when his wife passed away in 2009.
Coleman spoke to the Daily News in 2013 about why he continued to donate. “There were a lot of people at McMaster helping me to make the right choices and leading me in the right direction. So this is my way of helping McMaster students achieve their own dreams.”
Fittingly, Logo Warille’s dream is to follow in Coleman’s footsteps and work in biomedical research. “It continues the story,” says Warille, who chose McMaster for its research intensity and its support system for undergraduates. He received a McMaster Entrance Scholarship in 2014 and made the Dean’s Honour List in 2015.
Warille has always been fascinated by the sciences. “I want to explore medical problems and apply scientific concepts to solve those problems,” he says of his career ambitions.
He is doing his own part to help younger students develop a passion for science. He has volunteered as a judge at McMaster’s Engineering and Science Olympics and the St. Lawrence Catholic Elementary School’s science fair. And he’s served as a Biochemistry Student Representative at Mac, answering questions from potential students.
After he learned more about the Colemans, Warille rewrote his thank-you letter and sent it to their son. “I told him I really appreciated the gift that his parents gave me. One day, I hope I can have a positive impact on someone else’s life, just like they did for me.”
The bursary gives him some flexibility to volunteer this summer. (In high school, he volunteered for “Me to We” which supports the international charity Free the Children.) Or he might take a third-year course before the fall term starts.
Why should someone consider making a donation? “If you feel McMaster has done something for you, there’s a student somewhere on campus who would really appreciate your help,” says Warille.
“And hopefully one day that student will feel the same way and give back, too.”
Supporting LIVELab the perfect way to remember professor emeritus
Marjorie Smith is reminded of her late husband every time she attends a concert on campus.
The Psychology professor and former department chair Grant Smith was a true lover of classical music.
That’s why Marjorie, daughter Lara Smith-Grunthal and son-in-law Paul Grunthal decided to financially support McMaster’s LIVELab.
“Our most recent donation was to the Lab, in memory of Grant,” says Paul, a Business Development Manager at McMaster’s Industry Liaison Office. “It was the perfect match for us.”
The gift will help researchers at the LIVELab explore how musicians perform together, how rhythm might help an autistic child or Parkinson’s patient, and how hearing aids might work better in noisy settings, among other things.
All said, members of the extended Smith-Grunthals have a combined 90 years of service to McMaster as staff and faculty, as well as time spent as students.
They’re just some of the many people who plan to support the University this month during the Give Maroon faculty and staff fundraising campaign.
The campaign provides support for a wide variety of University programs and facilities.
Paying forward an enriching student experience
One of Anna D’Angela’s first introductions to McMaster was the student-run Horizon’s Leadership Conference on campus, where she was introduced to ways she could work to enrich her school and community.
Anna has spent much of her time at Mac doing just this.
While earning an undergraduate degree in the Arts and Science Program, she took on leadership roles as a conference coordinator for the Horizon’s conference, as well as for the Creating Leadership Amongst Youth Conference, and as a residence orientation representative, and Maroons social coordinator (McMaster’s “spirit” squad), to name just a few. “It was exciting to share my passion for Mac with incoming students,” says Anna.
Anna also donated to her senior class’s gift to the University, providing the next generation of students with cell-phone charging stations in the student centre.
Her many contributions to enriching the McMaster experience were acknowledged by her peers when she was elected as the Vice-President (Administration) and Chief Administrative Officer for the McMaster Students Union.
Even now, as she earns her MBA at McMaster, Anna dedicates time to serving her fellow students, recently completing her term as the graduate student representative to the Board of Governors.
She also continues to donate to McMaster each year in support of bursaries. The recipient of many donor-funded scholarships, she is grateful for the financial support she has received. When asked why donating to Mac is important, Anna says, “Regardless of how much you can give, every gift is important to help a peer go to school and have the opportunity to benefit from the student experience at Mac.”
It’s an experience that has also benefited from Anna, and her passion to enrich it.
Discovering Canada's next generation of leaders
The Wilson Foundation is establishing a new awards program hosted at McMaster which will nurture and cultivate the country’s next generation of leaders, an elite group of students who are expected to tackle some of society’s most perplexing issues.
The awards will be open to students from across all Faculties of the University. Candidates heading into their final two years of undergraduate study are eligible for a $50,000 award that will cover education costs over the two-year period. The award’s terms immediately place the program amongst the highest value undergraduate scholarships in the country.
The Wilson Leadership Awards will recognize students who demonstrate exceptional promise and potential, says Lynton “Red” Wilson, chairman of The Wilson Foundation and a graduate and former chancellor of McMaster. Wilson has also been a generous supporter of the liberal arts and the study of Canadian history.
“Our hope is that an award of this kind will arm young students with the skills they need to address national and international issues that effect the prosperity and well-being of Canadian citizens and of those beyond our borders,” he says.
“We are very grateful for the support of the Wilson Foundation,” says McMaster president and vice-chancellor Patrick Deane. “McMaster aims to cultivate leadership and public service amongst our students and this awards program, unique in Canada, is a significant step forward. Red Wilson’s advocacy and support for young scholars continues to make a remarkable impact on campus.”
In addition to the financial award, Wilson Leaders will receive one-on-one mentoring and meetings with leaders from across Canada. They will also connect with visiting scholars and senior faculty. Experiential learning and engagement with the larger community will be cornerstones of the program.
“The students who win these awards will be exposed to outstanding mentoring and coaching over the course of their studies,” Sean Van Koughnett, associate vice-president (Students & Learning) and dean of students.
“The combination of experiential learning, community engagement and mentoring presents a terrific opportunity to recruit and develop high calibre leaders,” he says.
For more information on the Wilson Leadership Scholar Awards, please visit: www.wilsonleader.ca
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/wilson-foundation-establishes-prest...
Stemming the tide of the Canadian "Silver Tsunami”
It’s been called Canada’s “Silver Tsunami” – a rising wave of seniors requiring more innovative and specific mental health treatment and care that will only grow as the years continue.
Now, a unique gift from the University’s Chancellor to McMaster and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) will help develop and provide family doctors and caregivers with better ways of identifying and treating seniors with dementia.
The $1M gift from Suzanne Labarge will fund a unique collaboration between two national leaders in healthcare: McMaster and CAMH. Together they will develop protocols for family doctors, nurses and practitioners so they are better able to identify, protect and treat older adults at risk of developing a mental illness.
Family physicians and primary care staff will assess and treat patients who are between 60 and 65 years old. Participants will be selected based on the presence of risk factors that are associated with mental illness in older adults including a previous history of depression, family history of dementia, heart disease or diabetes and social isolation, physical isolation and smoking.
Dementia affects 15 per cent of those 65 and older. By 2040 experts predict the cost of dementia alone will be $293 billion.
“This is a pressing national healthcare need,” Labarge says. “As a country, we must act now to develop and test treatments for seniors who are at risk of developing, or already showing, early signs of mental illness.”
The gift will fund a four-year project involving two teams of family health providers – one in Toronto and one in Hamilton. The teams will develop and then test treatments for patients 60-65 who are at risk of developing depression – which can be a precursor to dementia.
Data gathered from the project groups will be collected and analyzed to determine which approaches and treatments worked best, with a goal of developing new ways for family practitioners to be better able of identifying and treating seniors at risk.
“Canadians are living longer and it is vital we address the mental health issues unique to seniors,” says McMaster’s President Patrick Deane. “Suzanne’s generous support of this national priority is evidenced by this remarkable gift and by her outstanding investments in the Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative whose work is already providing new insights and hope for Canadians.”
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/1m-gift-from-chancellor-labarge-sup...
A Beam for the Liberal Arts
Chancellor Emeritus Lynton “Red” Wilson, his wife Brenda and MPP Ted McMeekin joined representatives from McMaster and the Wilson Foundation in the ceremonial signing of a beam at the future home of L.R. Wilson Hall recently.
The group, along with Ken Cruikshank (Dean of Humanities), Jeremiah Hurley (Dean of Social Sciences), Ehima Osazuwa (McMaster Students Union President), Mary Williams (VP of University Advancement) and Peter Sharpe (President of the Wilson Foundation) left messages of thanks on a beam that will be placed near the top of L.R. Wilson Hall.
“The excitement on campus is growing, especially among students,” says Hurley.
“We are so thankful for Red and Brenda’s generous support of the liberal arts at McMaster and are looking forward to seeing what students and researchers will be able to accomplish in their new home,” says Cruikshank.
When open, the building will offer exciting new spaces and active learning classrooms for students and faculty in Humanities and Social Sciences.
It will feature a variety of teaching and learning spaces, including a 400-seat lecture theatre, two 100-seat classrooms and a number of smaller classrooms.
The facility will also house significant liberal arts research centres such as the Wilson Institute for Canadian History and the Gilbrea Centre for Health and Aging. McMaster’s Indigenous Studies Program and indigenous student support offices will be located there.
L.R. Wilson Hall will also be home to new performing arts spaces including a 350-seat concert hall and the unique “black box” theatre that provides a multipurpose space for music, dance and spoken word productions.
The project is possible through a $45.5M investment from the province of Ontario and a $10M gift from Wilson.
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/ceremonial-beam-signing-an-importan...
McMaster arts community gets first look at Fitzhenry Studios and Atrium
The studios and atrium will increase existing classroom, studio and display areas by more than 1,700 square feet.
They were made possible thanks to a $3M gift from alumnus Robert Fitzhenry in honour of his late wife Andrée, who was an accomplished painter specializing in landscapes.
The gift is the largest ever donation to the Fine Arts program.
Humanities Dean Ken Cruikshank describes it as “the single most powerful learning tool the School of the Arts has ever had.”
The current studios were first built in the 1960s in Togo Salmon Hall and feature an on-site foundry, one of only a handful in the country available to fine arts students.
Originally designed to accommodate 15 artists at a time, the program and demands for the space have grown considerably over time.
“This space puts the needs of our students first,” said Judy Major-Girardin, associate professor in the School of the Arts. “You see that in everything from the outdoor space to the way we arrange light, power outlets, equipment, storage and more.”
The atrium will function as a reception area with the façade facing Stearn Drive, where campus visitors, students, staff and faculty will be able to see the art-making process in action.
“The new addition to the program can only propel our creative potential even futher as alumni return to marvel at the new facilities, and potential students are inspired by the spaces where works will be crafted,” said fourth year Fine Arts student Natalie Richard.
Fitzhenry has been a longtime supporter of the University, investing in priorities which include the Robert Fitzhenry Specialized Rehabilitation and Exercise Lab, the stadium, a dance studio and the McMaster vector lab, which provides the delivery agents used to transport gene therapies or vaccines in patients.
He graduated with an honours BA degree in political economy in 1954 and eventually partnered with Robert Beamish to build the Woodbridge Foam Corporation into a world-class business.
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/mcmaster-arts-community-gets-first-...
An amazing discovery from the Levy bequest
A 17th-century portrait in the McMaster Museum of Art's collection and thought to be by Flemish artist Michael Sweerts has been proven to actually be by British artist Mary Beale - England's first professional female painter.
The intimate portrait of Beale's husband Charles, found in the McMaster Museum of Art, had been mistakenly attributed to Sweerts for more than 50 years.
The McMaster Beale painting was originally acquired by the prominent Hamilton collector Herman Levy (1902 – 1990) in London, England in 1961 and is part of a substantial donation to the Museum in 1984. It is now on view as a complement to the summer exhibition Passions of the Eye, which includes works from Hamilton and area private collections.
17th-century portrait, mistakenly attributed to man, actually by England's first female painter
David Braley Health Sciences Centre opens in downtown Hamilton
McMaster has officially opened the $84.6 million David Braley Health Sciences Centre at the downtown Hamilton McMaster Health Campus.
The 192,000-square-foot facility will be home to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine as well as the City of Hamilton’s Public Health Services.
John Kelton, dean and vice-president of the University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, added: “This is a beautiful landmark reflecting Hamilton’s growing importance in the provincial and national health sectors. We’re known for our excellence and innovation in health sciences education and research, and this building is designed to support those initiatives.”
The six-storey facility is also to be a community space open to the public, with a café, public meeting and lounge space. It will also be a base for major research and education initiatives by McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences.
The project has been funded by a large group, including McMaster University, the City of Hamilton, the Province of Ontario and Hamilton businessman David Braley.
See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/david-braley-health-sciences-centre-opens-in-downtown-hamilton/
David Braley Health Sciences Centre opens in downtown Hamilton
Donor profiles & gift announcements
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Lynton “Red” Wilson – “The model McMaster alumnus”
Lynton “Red” Wilson ’62 ’95 (honorary) established storied careers in both public service and the private sector, but is best known for his time as the president and chief executive officer, then chairman, of BCE Inc. He is an officer of the Order of Canada and a companion of the Order of the Business Hall of Fame.
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Mel and Marilyn Hawkrigg – McMaster’s remarkable “co-chancellors”
Business executive Mel Hawkrigg `52 ’97 (honorary) and his wife Marilyn Hawkrigg are recognized by many in the McMaster family as the University’s First Couple of volunteering.
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Michael G. DeGroote – History making philanthropist
Michael DeGroote, the entrepreneur who built Laidlaw Transport into one of North America’s most successful companies, began his philanthropic relationship with McMaster University in 1987. His philanthropy has included gifts to internal medicine, the McMaster Museum of Art, epilepsy research and literary criticism, but his legacy has grown primarily from four iconic gifts spread over more than a quarter century.
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Ron Foxcroft – Community leadership
Ron Foxcroft ’01 (honorary) became an honorary member of the McMaster Alumni Association in 2007, a distinction that reflects his long and active involvement with the McMaster community.
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Doug & June Barber – Volunteer leadership and philanthropy
Doug and June Barber have been active members of the McMaster family for decades, beginning with Doug Barber’s long-standing role as an instructor in McMaster’s Faculty of Engineering and growing to include significant volunteer roles, most notably his volunteer service to the McMaster Board of Governors where he was chair from 1999-2001.
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Teresa Cascioli invests in entrepreneurship
Teresa Cascioli ’83 began her career in the public sector before entering the business world where she rose to prominence as president & chief executive officer of Hamilton’s own Lakeport Brewing Corporation. In 2003, Profit Magazine and Chatelaine ranked her eighth on the list of the top 100 women entrepreneurs in Canada.
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Don Bridgman – Leading by example
A former varsity basketball player, Don Bridgman ’78 has been a dedicated McMaster donor and volunteer from almost the day of his graduation. One of the co-founders of Financial Capital Planners and now a key leader with Assante Wealth Management, Mr. Bridgman’s McMaster involvement has focused on three key priorities: providing financial advice, supporting the McMaster Alumni Association and playing a leadership role in supporting McMaster Athletics.
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Boris family donates $30 million to medical research and clinical care
On February 6, 2012, siblings Jackie Work and Les Boris announced, on behalf of the Boris family, their mother Marta and late father Owen, an innovative gift to McMaster. Giving through the Marta and Owen Boris Foundation, the family’s $30 million donation included funds to create the Boris Family Centre in Human Stem Cell Therapies which will speed the commercial development of discoveries at the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. The Boris family’s philanthropy also established fellowships, new technician positions and two senior research chairs, one in blood stem cells and the other in neural stem cells.
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Hamilton Community Rallies to Bring McMaster to Hamilton | 1930
The community’s investment was a visionary one. McMaster is now one of the city’s five largest employers and a 2009 study by Econometric Research Ltd. found that 16,703 Hamiltonians owe their permanent full-time equivalent jobs to the presence of McMaster in the community.
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Celebrating 90 Years - Canadian Federation of University Women—Hamilton
In February 1925, a group of women met in the Children’s Room of the Hamilton Public Library. Their goal? To found the University Women’s Club and promote “the advancement of education, art, science, literature and social reform.”
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Thanks from Fran Lasowski
Here’s a memory to cherish: Spending three months in Australia working on your thesis. Thanks to a travel award – funded by gifts of all sizes – Fran Lasowski was able to do just that.
Lynton “Red” Wilson – “The model McMaster alumnus”
Dr. Wilson has long been one of McMaster’s most active and high-profile volunteers. He has served on the Board of Governors, chaired the Changing Tomorrow Today Campaign, served on the campaign cabinet executive for The Campaign for McMaster University and served two terms as the University’s chancellor.
He is also one of McMaster’s most generous and diversely interested philanthropists. He created bursaries for student-athletes and gave one of the largest gifts to the Athletics & Recreation Centre and Stadium campaign. His gift of $3.5 million established the Wilson Institute in Canadian History and the L.R. Wilson Chair in Canadian History. He also helped establish the L.R. Wilson/Bell Canada Chair in Data Communications. In 2007, he announced a gift of $10 million in support of a new facility for the faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences. L.R. Wilson Hall, currently under construction, is named in his honour.
Mel and Marilyn Hawkrigg – McMaster’s remarkable “co-chancellors”
Mel Hawkrigg is a founding member of the President’s Club executive, has been a member of his class reunion committee for a number of anniversary celebrations, was a member of the campaign cabinet executive for the Changing Tomorrow Today Campaign, and has been an active volunteer with the athletic program. From 1998-2007, he served as McMaster’s “chief volunteer” – the chancellor. At his side at every event and function for those nine years – three terms – was Marilyn Hawkrigg, known affectionately around campus as the co-chancellor.
The Hawkriggs have also been active donors, supporting student athletes, the Athletics & Recreation Centre and Stadium campaign, the Class of ’52 50th Anniversary gift, named scholarships and the McMaster University Student Centre, a gift memorialized through the naming of Hawkrigg Hall in Gilmour Hall.
Of all their McMaster-related contributions and achievements, the one of which they are most proud is that all five of their children are McMaster graduates.
Michael G. DeGroote – History making philanthropist
Michael DeGroote, the entrepreneur who built Laidlaw Transport into one of North America’s most successful companies, began his philanthropic relationship with McMaster University in 1987. His philanthropy has included gifts to internal medicine, the McMaster Museum of Art, epilepsy research and literary criticism, but his legacy has grown primarily from four iconic gifts spread over more than a quarter century.
In 1987, Dr. DeGroote gave $3 million to the business faculty, allowing the faculty to broaden its scope and build a new building. In 1992, the faculty celebrated the opening of the new building and changed its name to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business (now the DeGroote School of Business), the first named business school in Ontario.
Dr. DeGroote and his family played a keystone role in making the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC) a reality. Their gift of $6 million provided the funds needed to secure approval for construction after decades of anticipation and years of planning. MUSC opened in 2002 and remains the heart of the campus.
On December 13, 2003, Dr. DeGroote announced he was making a $105 million gift to McMaster. The gift remained the largest cash gift in Canadian history for nearly a decade and is still the country’s largest cash gift by a living donor. The gift supported McMaster’s work in health sciences and included endowments to establish research centres in pain, molecular cancer, and infectious diseases as well as research chairs in medicine and stroke prevention and treatment. His generosity helped McMaster attract some of the world’s best researchers and finalize the construction of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery. As a result of this gift, McMaster named its medical school the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
Most recently, on May 23, 2014, Dr. DeGroote announced a new gift of $50 million to the School of Medicine. The gift supports an increased focus on health leadership and biomedical research, along with the development of stronger alignment with McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business. The centerpiece of the gift is a fund that seeds emerging medical research.
Michael DeGroote’s giving to McMaster has not only established his preeminence among Canadian philanthropists, but has helped redefine the University’s ambitions on four separate occasions while serving as an inspiration to other donors who have followed his example of generosity.
The impact of Dr. DeGroote’s 2003 gift
Dr. DeGroote’s Honorary Membership citation from the McMaster Alumni Association
Ron Foxcroft – Community leadership
The well-known entrepreneur connected with the University initially through sport, but his involvement has grown far beyond that. A former member of the DeGroote School of Business Advisory Council and the University Board of Governors, Dr. Foxcroft also served as chairman of the Athletics and Recreation Centre and Stadium (ARCS) campaign that helped build both Ron Joyce Stadium and the David Braley Athletic Centre.
With his personal philanthropy, Dr. Foxcroft has support a variety of sport-related initiatives at McMaster and, most notably, established matching gift funds as part of the ARCS campaign to inspire potential donors to become involved.
Doug & June Barber – Volunteer leadership and philanthropy
Doug Barber co-founded Linear Technology, the company that would become Gennum Corp. His success as an entrepreneur fueled the couple’s diverse philanthropic interests on campus. They have supported initiatives like the rejuvenation of the Great Hall (University Club), bursaries and the SELECT program – an initiative that helps integrate engineering students with the local community. They have made more significant gifts to transformative projects such as the Engineering Technology Building and ExCEL, the Engineering Centre for Experiential Learning.
Teresa Cascioli invests in entrepreneurship
A member of the campaign cabinet executive for The Campaign for McMaster University, Cascioli donated $1 million to McMaster and the DeGroote School of Business in 2007 to create and endow the Teresa Cascioli Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Don Bridgman – Leading by example
Mr. Bridgman is a long-time member of the University’s Pension Trust Committee and has served as the financial advisor and a member of the McMaster Alumni Association’s executive committee since – remarkably – 1985. He initiated the first McMaster Sport and Fitness School, has been the lead fundraiser for the McMaster Marauders basketball teams, served on the President’s Committee on Athletics, led the Courtside Club and was the founding chair of both the McMaster Pro-Am Golf Challenge and the Basketball Gala Dinner. He was also a founding member of the Physical Education Alumni Association and was co-chair of the Hamilton alumni section of the McMaster Centennial Campaign. In 1988, he received the McMaster Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
Boris family donates $30 million to medical research and clinical care
On February 6, 2012, siblings Jackie Work and Les Boris announced, on behalf of the Boris family, their mother Marta and late father Owen, an innovative gift to McMaster. Giving through the Marta and Owen Boris Foundation, the family’s $30 million donation included funds to create the Boris Family Centre in Human Stem Cell Therapies which will speed the commercial development of discoveries at the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. The Boris family’s philanthropy also established fellowships, new technician positions and two senior research chairs, one in blood stem cells and the other in neural stem cells.
The final $6 million of the gift launched a unique clinic that allows patients with complex
health problems to see several specialists and have related tests during one visit.
Established in partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences, this patient-oriented clinic
will be built in the McMaster University Medical Centre and led by a senior research chair.
McMaster DailyNews article announcing the Boris family gift
Faculty of Health Sciences’ webpage on the Boris family gift
National Post article on Owen Boris and the Boris family gift
Hamilton Community Rallies to Bring McMaster to Hamilton | 1930
After its founding in 1887 on Bloor Street in Toronto, the leaders of McMaster University realized that Toronto might not be the best long-term home for the institution given its location in the shadow of the more established University of Toronto.
In the 1920’s, Hamilton’s civic, cultural and business leaders were having serious discussions about trying to establish a university in the self-proclaimed “Ambitious City.” With McMaster already considering relocation, Hamilton began working with the University on a plan that involved a grant of 75 acres of land in Westdale. Community leaders also initiated a local fundraising drive to help defray the costs of transplanting the University. McMaster moved in 1930 and the University honouring the $500,000 raised by its new hometown by naming one of the University’s original buildings Hamilton Hall.
The community’s investment was a visionary one. McMaster is now one of the city’s five largest employers and a 2009 study by Econometric Research Ltd. found that 16,703 Hamiltonians owe their permanent full-time equivalent jobs to the presence of McMaster in the community.
Brief overview of McMaster’s history
Pirate Gift Announcement
Celebrating 90 Years - Canadian Federation of University Women—Hamilton
Later named the Canadian Federation of University Women—Hamilton, the club celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2015, and it’s still going strong with lectures, events, interest groups and political advocacy.
It has also continued its long-standing tradition, established in 1937, of raising money for scholarships.Over the years, the CFUW-Hamilton scholarship fund has been replenished through book sales, individual donations and bequests. Most recently, the club raises money with an annual author’s night.
The CFUW-Hamilton now supports four scholarships at McMaster University. The club also funds one scholarship each inBrock University’s Faculty of Education and at Mohawk College. Aportion of membership fees goes toward another scholarship program, managed by the national CFUW office, for women pursuing postgraduate studies.
Thanks from Fran Lasowski
Here’s a memory to cherish: Spending three months in Australia working on your thesis. Thanks to a travel award – funded by gifts of all sizes – Fran Lasowski was able to do just that.
A PhD student in engineering, Fran is researching new ways to treat myopia in children. She’s also a dedicated volunteer – she coordinated the McMaster branch of “Let’s Talk Science” for four years. And in 2014, Fran was named a Claudette MacKay-Lassonde Graduate Scholar, a top honour that recognizes female leaders in the field of engineering.
“Support from donors helps students make those connections that can set their careers in motion,” says Fran. “These awards really cement that what you’re doing is important and that people really do care.”
Videos
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The Impact of Giving: Susan Cunningham
Susan Cunningham understands the importance of geological studies for our planet's future. This is why the graduate of the Class of 1979 has established The Cunningham Chair in Geology.
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The Impact of Giving: K. Margaret Lyons
McMaster donor K. Margaret Lyons tell her stories on why she support our university. Thanks to a donation from Margaret and her husband Edward, the university was able to create the Lyons New Media Centre in 2002.
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National Philanthropy Day 2016
Donors bring McMaster to life. Your support allows us to improve the student experience, create new opportunities, and make a better future possible.
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The Impact of Giving: Robert Fitzhenry
Hear Robert share why it was important to play a part in improving the facilities available to McMaster art students with his gift to the Fine Arts program.
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National Philanthropy Day 2015
You can't tell just by looking, but every McMaster student has been affected by philanthropy. Every face has a story about the power donation, about the ability of donors to improve the student experience, to create new opportunities, to make a better future possible.
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The Power of Student Bursaries
“I’m going into my fourth year and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the bursaries that support me”. Seyar THANKS YOU!
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National Philanthropy Day 2014
On National Philanthropy Day, McMaster University pauses to thank YOU for the impact you have on the University and its students. We hope you feel inspired by all that is possible thanks to the entire McMaster family of supporters.
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McMaster's Opening & Dedication Ceremonies
McMaster memories on film from November 14, 1930.
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Why You Matter to McMaster
Thanks to donors like You, McMaster University is an amazing place to learn and grow.
The Impact of Giving: Susan Cunningham
The Impact of Giving: K. Margaret Lyons
National Philanthropy Day 2016
The Impact of Giving: Robert Fitzhenry
National Philanthropy Day 2015
The Power of Student Bursaries
National Philanthropy Day 2014
McMaster's Opening & Dedication Ceremonies
Why You Matter to McMaster
In 2015, 8,143 donors from around the world, 25 countries funded 2,570 areas across the campus providing $27,855,642 in support!
There were 85 students in the 85 Reasons Campaign for Student Support but the appreciation we feel for our donors is unquantifiable.
Thank you for sharing your memories of campus and your generosity across campus.
We simply could not do it without You.
impact.mcmaster.ca
Why You Matter to McMaster
Our donor societies
McMaster recognizes exceptional generosity by including donors who meet certain criteria in one of the University’s two donor societies – the President’s Club or the Gilmour Society.
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The President's Club
The President's Club offers McMaster’s most generous donors the opportunity to connect with the University and each other in exclusive ways, most notably at the annual President’s Club event. Founded in 1980 as a way to recognize individuals who make exceptional gifts in any given year, the President’s Club now includes organizations, foundations and corporations as well as individual donors. It also extends membership to donors who have made confirmed planned gifts or have made remarkable lifetime contributions to the University. The President’s Club membership categories are: Member: Donors who give a total of $500 or more in a given year Honorary Member: Donors who have made lifetime contributions to McMaster of $50,000 or more, or who have made a confirmed planned gift such as a charitable bequest or other future giving arrangement
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The Gilmour Society
The Gilmour Society recognizes donors who make gifts of up to $500 for three or more consecutive years. Named in honour of George Peel Gilmour – McMaster’s chief executive from 1941 to 1961 – the Gilmour Society originally recognized young alumni donors, but is now open to all eligible loyal donors.
The President's Club
Historic McMaster gifts
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Senator William McMaster's Generosity Found a New University
On April 23, 1887, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario approved chapter 95 of the Statutes of Ontario 1887 and officially created McMaster University by uniting Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock College.
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Herman Levy
Near the end of Mr. Levy’s life, he donated 185 European and American works of art to the McMaster Museum of Art, thereby playing a defining role in establishing the museum as the best-attended university art gallery in Ontario and the home of a nationally and internationally respected collection.
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Michael G. DeGroote
Michael DeGroote’s giving to McMaster has not only established his preeminence among Canadian philanthropists, but has helped redefine the University’s ambitions on four separate occasions while serving as an inspiration to other donors who have followed his example of generosity.
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David Braley
Hamilton businessman and philanthropist David Braley made a new gift to McMaster.
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Ron Joyce
Ron Joyce ’98 (honorary) is the former police officer who famously co-founded the iconic Tim Hortons company.
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Lynton "Red" Wilson
Lynton 'Red' Wilson speaks to friends and members of the McMaster community Tuesday after announcing a new gift in support of the Wilson Institute for Canadian History.
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Robert Fitzhenry
The Impact of Giving: Robert Fitzhenry, a member of the Class of 1954.
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MSU Student Centre Gift
MSU members contribute $24 Million to the McMaster University Student Centre.
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McMaster Alumni Association - More Than a Century of Philanthropy
McMaster’s first graduates were the 16 members of the Class of 1894. Just a few months later, they founded The Alumni Society – now the McMaster Alumni Association – and the Association has been a strong philanthropic supporter of the University ever since.
Senator William McMaster's Generosity Found a New University
Senator William McMaster, the first president of the Bank of Commerce, devoted a significant amount of his time and money to advancing the cause of establishing what he called “a Christian school of learning.” He and his wife Susan Moulton McMaster were the driving forces behind the founding of Toronto Baptist College on Bloor Street in a new building called McMaster Hall.
On April 23, 1887, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario approved chapter 95 of the Statutes of Ontario 1887 and officially created McMaster University by uniting Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock College. On September 22, 1887, Senator McMaster died, leaving a bequest of the bulk of his estate – approximately $900,000 – to the newly founded University. Housed in McMaster Hall, McMaster University offered courses in arts and theology with degree programs beginning in 1890 and the first degrees conferred in 1894.
Herman Levy
Herman Herzog Levy (1902-1990) ran a successful diamond and jewelry importing business in Hamilton as he pursued part time his passion for art and art collecting that began when he had an internship in Amsterdam at the beginning of his career. In 1960, he divested himself of the business and turned his full attention to collecting and appreciating art.
Near the end of Mr. Levy’s life, he donated 185 European and American works of art to the McMaster Museum of Art, thereby playing a defining role in establishing the museum as the best-attended university art gallery in Ontario and the home of a nationally and internationally respected collection. In his will, Mr. Levy also provided the funds that created the museum’s Levy Bequest Purchase Program that continues to acquire new works for the McMaster Museum of Art’s Herman H. Levy Collection. Pieces in the collection have been loaned to institutions including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Kunsthaus (Zurich), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), National Gallery (London), National Gallery of Canada and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
McMaster Museum of Art website
The Herman H. Levy Collection website
Michael G. DeGroote
History Making Philanthropist - 1987
Michael DeGroote, the entrepreneur who built Laidlaw Transport into one of North America’s most successful companies, began his philanthropic relationship with McMaster University in 1987. His philanthropy has included gifts to internal medicine, the McMaster Museum of Art, epilepsy research and literary criticism, but his legacy has grown primarily from four iconic gifts spread over more than a quarter century.
In 1987, Dr. DeGroote gave $3 million to the business faculty, allowing the faculty to broaden its scope and build a new building. In 1992, the faculty celebrated the opening of the new building and changed its name to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business (now the DeGroote School of Business), the first named business school in Ontario.
Dr. DeGroote and his family played a keystone role in making the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC) a reality. Their gift of $6 million provided the funds needed to secure approval for construction after decades of anticipation and years of planning. MUSC opened in 2002 and remains the heart of the campus.
On December 13, 2003, Dr. DeGroote announced he was making a $105 million gift to McMaster. The gift remained the largest cash gift in Canadian history for nearly a decade and is still the country’s largest cash gift by a living donor. The gift supported McMaster’s work in health sciences and included endowments to establish research centres in pain, molecular cancer, and infectious diseases as well as research chairs in medicine and stroke prevention and treatment. His generosity helped McMaster attract some of the world’s best researchers and finalize the construction of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery. As a result of this gift, McMaster named its medical school the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
Most recently, on May 23, 2014, Dr. DeGroote announced a new gift of $50 million to the School of Medicine. The gift supports an increased focus on health leadership and biomedical research, along with the development of stronger alignment with McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business. The centerpiece of the gift is a fund that seeds emerging medical research.
Michael DeGroote’s giving to McMaster has not only established his preeminence among Canadian philanthropists, but has helped redefine the University’s ambitions on four separate occasions while serving as an inspiration to other donors who have followed his example of generosity.
The impact of Dr. DeGroote’s 2003 gift
Dr. DeGroote’s Honorary Membership citation from the McMaster Alumni Association
Michael DeGroote's Leadership Sets a New Path for the School of Business - 1992
One of the most transformative gifts of McMaster’s Centennial Campaign was Michael G. DeGroote’s 1987 gift of $3 million to the Faculty of Business. Dr. DeGroote not only provided the keystone gift, but advocated for additional support of the faculty from other donors.
The faculty’s new building opened in 1992 at the same time the faculty changed its name in honour of Dr. DeGroote’s philanthropy and leadership. The Michael G. DeGroote School of Business – now the DeGroote School of Business – was the first named business school in Ontario. Dr. DeGroote’s support played a critical role in driving the school’s recognition for leadership in innovative approaches learning and service to the business community.
DeGroote School of Business website
History of the DeGroote School of Business
A Historic $105 Million Gift - 2003
On December 17, 2003, Michael G. DeGroote ’92 (honorary) announced a new donation to McMaster. At $105 million, it remained the largest cash gift in Canadian history for nearly a decade and is still the country’s largest cash gift by a living donor. Dr. DeGroote, an entrepreneur who built Laidlaw Transport into one of North America’s largest transportation companies, made the gift to support McMaster’s work in health sciences and included endowments to establish research centres in pain, molecular cancer, and infectious diseases as well as research chairs in medicine and stroke prevention and treatment. His generosity created the Thalamic Pain Management Centre along with the Faculty of Health Sciences Initiatives Development Fund designed to help McMaster attract some of the world’s best researchers. Also included in the gift was a significant contribution to the construction of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery.
His 2003 gift supported McMaster’s work in health sciences and included endowments to establish research centres in pain, molecular cancer, and infectious diseases as well as research chairs in medicine and stroke prevention and treatment. It created the Thalamic Pain Management Centre along with the Faculty of Health Sciences Initiatives Development Fund designed to help McMaster attract some of the world’s best researchers. Also included in the gift was a significant contribution to the construction of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery.
As a result of this gift, McMaster named its medical school the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and the resources and prestige associated with the donation played a significant role in helping the school’s world ranking rise dramatically in the following years. McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences has now been ranked as high as 14th in the world.
The impact of Dr. DeGroote’s 2003 gift
Dr. DeGroote’s Honorary Membership citation from the McMaster Alumni Association
Makes History Again with $50 million Gift to the School of Medicine - 2014
As the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine’s Class of 2014 was enjoying its Hippocratic oath ceremony on the morning of Convocation, it was joined by a surprise guest, Michael DeGroote. Dr. DeGroote took a few moments to address the class before announcing that he was making a new gift to the school.
His gift of $50 million was designated to support an increased focus on national and international health leadership, including developing stronger alignment with McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business and partnerships focused on biomedical advances. The donation also created a new fund to seed high-potential medical research within the Faculty of Health Sciences. The fund reflects Dr. DeGroote’s passion for innovative risk taking and supports the most promising avenues of discovery, helping breakthroughs move more quickly from labs to clinical application.
McMaster DailyNews story of Dr. DeGroote’s 2014 gift
Faculty of Health Sciences’ webpage on Dr. DeGroote’s latest gift
David Braley
Invests $50 Million in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine
In June 2007, Hamilton businessman and philanthropist David Braley made a new gift to McMaster – a $50 million donation to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business. The gift had three main components. The first was $15 million to build Canada’s first human stem cell library. This investment would serve as a platform for research on catastrophic illnesses and injuries including cancer, Alzheimer's and spinal cord damage, as well as heart disease and diabetes.
The second component of the gift was $10 million towards the development of a community based comprehensive care and training facility. This project – the Downtown Health Campus – is located in central Hamilton and will open in early 2015. It will receive more than 54,000 patient visits annually and play a significant role in downtown renewal.
The final component of the gift was a $25 million endowment fund allowing the Faculty of Health Sciences to be entrepreneurial in supporting and translating the most promising research.
McMaster DailyNews story on Dr. Braley’s 2007 gift to health sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences’ webpage on Dr. Braley’s contributions to the faculty
David Braley Health Sciences Centre Opens in Downtown Hamilton
The 192,000-square-foot facility will be home to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine as well as the City of Hamilton’s Public Health Services.
John Kelton, dean and vice-president of the University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, added: “This is a beautiful landmark reflecting Hamilton’s growing importance in the provincial and national health sectors. We’re known for our excellence and innovation in health sciences education and research, and this building is designed to support those initiatives.”
The six-storey facility is also to be a community space open to the public, with a café, public meeting and lounge space. It will also be a base for major research and education initiatives by McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences.
The project has been funded by a large group, including McMaster University, the City of Hamilton, the Province of Ontario and Hamilton businessman David Braley.
David Braley Health Sciences Centre opens in downtown Hamilton - See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/david-braley-
David Braley
Ron Joyce
Ron Joyce Makes Largest Donation to a Canadian Athletics Department - 2005
Ron Joyce ’98 (honorary) is the former police officer who famously co-founded the iconic Tim Hortons company. In 2005, he made the largest donation in history to a Canadian university athletics department when he gave $10 million to help fund the construction of what is now Ron Joyce Stadium. Replacing the much-loved but aging Les Prince Field, Ron Joyce Stadium opened in fall 2008 with Dr. Joyce overseeing the coin toss for the first football game in the stadium – a 22-19 victory for the Marauders over the University of Ottawa.
Ron Joyce Stadium seats 6,000 spectators and includes a 335-space underground parking garage. Together with the adjacent David Braley Athletic Centre, which opened in 2006, Ron Joyce Stadium is part of one of the most advanced university athletics and recreation complexes in the country.
News story on Dr. Joyce’s gift to the stadium project
McMaster Times with Ron Joyce Stadium cover story
Photographs from Ron Joyce Stadium opening
Ron Joyce's $10 Million Gift Helps Bring McMaster to Burlington- 2007
The Ron Joyce Centre in Burlington is the home of the MBA and executive education programs of the DeGroote School of Business. The centre offers 90,000 square feet of state-of-the-art classrooms, meeting spaces and lecture facilities, all within a highly sustainable design that received LEED Gold certification. Burlington resident Ron Joyce’s $10 million gift in 2007 helped build the centre while attracting a number of other personal and corporate donors to the project.
Opened in September 2010, the Ron Joyce Centre is the product of a partnership between McMaster, the City of Burlington and Halton Region. The centre’s location and easy highway access allows it to serve students and business clients in the Greater Toronto Area and Golden Horseshoe.
Ron Joyce Centre website
McMaster DailyNews coverage of Dr. Joyce’s Burlington gift
Boris Family
On February 6, 2012, siblings Jackie Work and Les Boris announced, on behalf of the Boris family, their mother Marta and late father Owen, an innovative gift to McMaster. Giving through the Marta and Owen Boris Foundation, the family’s $30 million donation included funds to create the Boris Family Centre in Human Stem Cell Therapies which will speed the commercial development of discoveries at the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. The Boris family’s philanthropy also established fellowships, new technician positions and two senior research chairs, one in blood stem cells and the other in neural stem cells.
The final $6 million of the gift launched a unique clinic that allows patients with complex
health problems to see several specialists and have related tests during one visit.
Established in partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences, this patient-oriented clinic
will be built in the McMaster University Medical Centre and led by a senior research chair.
McMaster DailyNews article announcing the Boris family gift
Faculty of Health Sciences’ webpage on the Boris family gift
National Post article on Owen Boris and the Boris family gift
Lynton "Red" Wilson
Lynton "Red" Wilson donates $10 Million for Liberal Arts
On October 29, 2007, McMaster’s then-chancellor, Lynton “Red” Wilson ’62 ’95 (honorary), former CEO and chairman of BCE Inc., announced a new gift to the University in support of the faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences. His gift of $10 million sparked the development of L.R. Wilson Hall, a new home for liberal arts studies at McMaster. Construction on the $65 million facility began in 2013 near the Sterling Street campus entrance.
When it opens in 2015, L.R. Wilson Hall will provide not just enhanced teaching and research space, but a home to unique programs including the Centre for Global Citizenship Experiences, the Indigenous Studies Program, Collaborations for Health, and the Wilson Institute for Canadian History, the latter also created by a gift from Dr. Wilson. The building will feature smart classrooms that enable collaboration, inquiry, discussion, dialogue and debate.
News story on Dr. Wilson’s $10 million gift
Dr. Wilson’s Alumni Gallery citation
Dr. Wilson’s Distinguished Service Award citation
News story on groundbreaking for L.R. Wilson Hall
Red Wilson Invests $2.5 Million in the Study of Canadian History by Renewing Successful Institute - 2014
Red Wilson’s latest gift to McMaster – $2.5 million – is a catalyst for revitalizing the study and promotion of Canadian history, an area where Wilson has established himself as a champion.
The gift from the Wilson Foundation, announced today, supports the renewal of the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History, ultimately allowing more Canadians to learn new stories about their past, says Wilson, a graduate, recipient of an honorary doctorate and former chancellor of McMaster. His philanthropy has included major contributions to the liberal arts at McMaster and to the study of history in Canada.
“A liberal education helps prepare young men and women for leadership,” Wilson says. “A key component of the liberal arts, the study of Canadian history, equips us all to better understand the context of the experiences, choices and decisions we face every day. In its just five years, under the leadership of Professor Viv Nelles, the Wilson Institute has already made a remarkable contribution to the reinvigoration of Canadian history at McMaster. It is based on this success that the Wilson Foundation is renewing its support today.”
Wilson’s newest gift to McMaster will fund the renewal of the Wilson Institute after its first five-year mandate, providing resources to support the recruitment of a new director, a new cohort of post-doctoral fellows and to fund speakers and research projects. Nelles is set to retire at the completion of his five-year term.
The Wilson Institute will have a new home in L.R. Wilson Hall, the new liberal arts complex now under construction, for which Wilson made a $10-million gift in 2007.
"Red’s generosity and his advocacy for the importance of the liberal arts have invigorated not just our Department of History, but our entire Faculty of Humanities,” says McMaster president Patrick Deane. “His belief and support are inspiring others, and attracting others, and I am confident that we will look back decades from now at his philanthropy and recognize it as a watershed in the development of our liberal arts faculties."
The initial success of the institute is having an impact at McMaster and beyond, says McMaster’s Dean of Humanities, Ken Cruikshank.
“The L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History has built the reputation of McMaster as the place where young scholars go to think about Canadian history in new and exciting ways,” Cruikshank says. “McMaster is also the place where established scholars gather to think through critical issues – to think about how the past can inform our thinking about current challenges facing Canada and the world.”
The investment announced today reinforces the importance of Canadian history at a critical time in the field, say the prominent young historians who have benefited from their fellowships at the institute.
“I don’t know of any other institute in Canada that supports research and teaching in Canadian history to this extent,” says Jennifer Bonnell, an environmental historian who has recently published a history of the Don River Valley in Toronto. “I have the opportunity to be a member of one of the best Canadian history departments in the country.”
Being a Wilson fellow has allowed Colin McCullough to take a closer look at the origins of Canada’s peacemaking tradition, to understand where ideas formed and took shape. Through specific research, Canada’s broader story emerges, he says.
“Studying history allows us to ask questions,” he says. “We have to try to encourage people not only to gather information, but to use it to think critically about the present and the future.”
Ian Mosby, McMaster’s third Wilson fellow, is a food historian whose previous research revealed that the Canadian government conducted nutrition experiments on indigenous children in residential schools, exposing a dark current of Canadian history.
“If it weren’t for an opportunity like this, these stories wouldn’t be told,” Mosby says.
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/red-wilson-invests-2-5-million-in-t...
Lynton "Red" Wilson
Suzanne Labarge
In September 2012, less than a year before she would become McMaster’s chancellor, Suzanne Labarge ’67 ’11 (honorary) announced that she was making a gift of $10 million to her alma mater to support the innovative and multidisciplinary Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative.
Dr. Labarge, who was a highly successful public servant and then senior corporate leader at Royal Bank/RBC, funded the initiative to spawn high-potential research and provide the best evidence-based information on key areas of aging optimally, primarily through the creation of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal which is now a one-stop resource for the best information on healthy aging for seniors, families, health care practitioners, policy makers and researcher.
Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative website
McMaster Optimal Aging Portal
Robert Fitzhenry
MSU Student Centre Gift
Beginning as early as the 1970’s, McMaster University and particularly its students recognized the need for expanded and modernized space to support student services and student life. In 1987, McMaster’s full-time undergraduate students voted 58.6% in favour of a resolution to establish a $15 annual levy on student fees. This fee was designed to provide the core funds required to design and build a project that was initially called the University Centre. For a decade, students contributed the fee without knowing when – or even if – construction on the project would begin. In 1998, however, the University successfully completed a fundraising campaign that provided the remaining budget and the process of building what would eventually be named the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC) began.
The groundbreaking for MUSC took place in 2000 and the centre opened in 2002. By the time the student levy concluded in 2012, Mac’s students had provided $24 million to the $35 million project and played an irreplaceable role in driving the project towards its successful completion.
McMaster University Student Centre website
McMaster Alumni Association - More Than a Century of Philanthropy
McMaster’s first graduates were the 16 members of the Class of 1894. Just a few months later, they founded The Alumni Society – now the McMaster Alumni Association – and the Association has been a strong philanthropic supporter of the University ever since. The first alumni fundraising campaign took place before the start of the 20th century when McMaster’s graduates were asked to help pay for repairs to the library after a fire. Through the years, the Association and alumni in general have participated in fundraising and philanthropy in many forms, including raising money to build Alumni Memorial Hall.
More recently, the McMaster Alumni Association has become more ambitious in its philanthropic support of the University because of the revenue earned through the Association’s strong alumni affinity programs – home and auto insurance, credit card, travel program and others. After creating scholarships and bursaries and establishing a tradition of donating the cost of new ceremonial robes for each new University president, the McMaster Alumni Association has also made keystone gifts of $750,000 to the ARCS Campaign (Ron Joyce Stadium and the David Braley Athletic Centre) and $600,000 to the McMaster University Student Centre.
McMaster Alumni Association website
MAA Annual Reports including reporting on philanthropy
Past campaign recognition
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Centennial Campaign donors
To celebrate the University’s 100th anniversary, McMaster launched the Centennial Campaign in 1987. It was McMaster’s first truly modern fundraising campaign and it had what was then a highly ambitious goal of $25 million. By the close of the campaign in 1992, the University had raised $93 million, initiating a period of wide-spread campus construction and aggressive expansion in student support through scholarships and bursaries. In the wake of the Centennial Campaign, the University saw the rise of numerous new buildings including the DeGroote School of Business, the McMaster Museum of Art and the nearly complete renovation of Mills Memorial Library.
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DeGroote School of Business Centennial Campaign
As part of the Centennial Campaign from 1987-1990, McMaster’s Faculty of Business set out to attract philanthropic support for both a new building and an ambitious reinvention of the faculty’s mandate. When Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael G. DeGroote became the project’s lead donor in 1987 and agreed to support the faculty’s subsequent fundraising efforts, the goals were within reach.
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McMaster Museum of Art building and endowment
While the McMaster Museum of Art was founded in 1967, its profile and capacity were redefined significantly with the opening of a new facility in renovated space in Mills Memorial Library on June 11, 1994. In 1999, the University renamed the building that is the museum’s home in honour of former McMaster president and vice-chancellor Alvin A. Lee who has long been one of the McMaster Museum of Art’s strongest advocates.
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McMaster Museum of Art collection
The McMaster Museum of Art – which moved to its current world-class facility in the Alvin A. Lee Building in 1994 – has long depended on the generosity of private donors to build one of the great university-based art collections in Canada. The nearly 6,000 works in the museum’s permanent collection feature particular strengths in early twentieth-century German Expressionist art, contemporary Canadian art, and modern and contemporary European art. Donations of both cash and art have driven the growth and quality of the permanent collection – most notably through the visionary donation from Hamilton businessman Herman H. Levy.
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McMaster Library Donors
The McMaster Library system includes four main library facilities: Mills Memorial Library (humanities and social sciences), H.G. Thode Library of Science & Engineering, Innis Library (business) and the Health Sciences Library. Philanthropic support has long played a key role in the growth and development of library facilities and collections. In fact, the first alumni fundraising campaign in McMaster’s history took place after a fire in the library of McMaster Hall, and Mills Memorial Library is named in recognition of a donation from the Davella Mills Foundation.
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Changing Tomorrow Today Campaign
In 1998, McMaster University launched what was, at the time, the largest fundraising campaign in its history. Called “Changing Tomorrow Today,” the campaign had an ambitious goal of $100 million. The campaign chair was future McMaster chancellor Lynton “Red” Wilson ’62 ’95 (honorary), who worked closely with then president & vice-chancellor Peter George and Roger Trull ’79, then McMaster’s vice-president of university advancement, to raise private support for the University both in Canada and abroad. The key campaign themes included student learning, connecting research and teaching, and recruiting and retaining the best professors. When the Changing Tomorrow Today campaign closed in October 2001, it had raised more than $128 million against its original goal while leveraging an additional $181 million in new government support and another $83 million in sponsored research funding.
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McMaster University Student Centre Campaign
By the time McMaster’s Board of Governors approved a fundraising campaign to attract more than $10 million in private support to what was then called the University Centre Project, the centre had been the dream of more than a decade’s worth of students. In fact, in 1987, McMaster’s full-time undergraduate students – the members of the McMaster Students Union – committed to a $15 annual levy to help fund the project and inspire greater support for the University Centre within the McMaster family.
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Athletics & Recreation Centre and Stadium (ARCS) Campaign
In 2004, the University launched the Athletics & Recreation Centre and Stadium campaign with legendary entrepreneur and basketball official Ron Foxcroft guiding the campaign as chairman.
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Ron Joyce Centre Burlington
The Ron Joyce Centre in Burlington is the home of the MBA and executive education programs of the DeGroote School of Business. The centre offers 90,000 square feet of state-of-the-art classrooms, meeting spaces and lecture facilities, all within a highly sustainable design that received LEED Gold certification.
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Engineering Technology Building
The Engineering Technology Building (ETB) – a 125,000 square foot facility located near the University’s Main Street entrance – is home to programs in emerging areas of both study and research including the School of Biomedical Engineering, the Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice and the McMaster-Mohawk Bachelor of Technology Partnership. The award-winning design (Urban Design and Architecture Awards’ Award of Excellence) meets LEED environmental standards and features innovative elements such as the elliptical classroom.
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University Club – Great Hall renovation campaign
Alumni Memorial Hall, the building that is home to the University Club (formerly the Faculty Club), was built on the strength of donations from alumni in the 1940’s and 1950’s. In 2009 and 2010, a group of nearly 60 donors gave to support the rejuvenation and preservation of the building’s historic and unique Great Hall. Used for both daily food service and events, the Great Hall is home to the iconic Moulton Window.
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Science & Engineering Building (JHE Annex) donors
As part of the Centennial Campaign from 1987-1990, private donors along with what was then the Ministry of Colleges and Universities of the Province of Ontario contributed to the construction of new classroom and laboratory space to be added at the southwest corner of the John Hodgins Engineering Building. Opened in 1991, the Science & Engineering Building is more commonly called the JHE Annex. The donor wall recognizes pacesetting donors to the campaign.
Centennial Campaign donors
To celebrate the University’s 100th anniversary, McMaster launched the Centennial Campaign in 1987. It was McMaster’s first truly modern fundraising campaign and it had what was then a highly ambitious goal of $25 million. By the close of the campaign in 1992, the University had raised $93 million, initiating a period of wide-spread campus construction and aggressive expansion in student support through scholarships and bursaries. In the wake of the Centennial Campaign, the University saw the rise of numerous new buildings including the DeGroote School of Business, the McMaster Museum of Art and the nearly complete renovation of Mills Memorial Library.
Centennial Campaign donors
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DeGroote School of Business Centennial Campaign
As part of the Centennial Campaign from 1987-1990, McMaster’s Faculty of Business set out to attract philanthropic support for both a new building and an ambitious reinvention of the faculty’s mandate. When Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael G. DeGroote became the project’s lead donor in 1987 and agreed to support the faculty’s subsequent fundraising efforts, the goals were within reach.The new building opened in 1992 as the faculty changed its name to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, becoming one of the first named business schools in Canada. Approximately a decade later, both the building and school became known as the DeGroote School of Business. The donors to the campaign – including individuals, corporations, foundations and a number of members of the DeGroote family – are recognized on the school’s donor wall.
DeGroote School of Business Centennial Campaign
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McMaster Museum of Art building and endowment
While the McMaster Museum of Art was founded in 1967, its profile and capacity were redefined significantly with the opening of a new facility in renovated space in Mills Memorial Library on June 11, 1994. In 1999, the University renamed the building that is the museum’s home in honour of former McMaster president and vice-chancellor Alvin A. Lee who has long been one of the McMaster Museum of Art’s strongest advocates.
The donor wall in the museum recognizes donors – both individuals and organizations – who contributed to the museum’s endowment and the construction of the Alvin A. Lee Building.
McMaster Museum of Art building and endowment
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McMaster Museum of Art collection
The McMaster Museum of Art – which moved to its current world-class facility in the Alvin A. Lee Building in 1994 – has long depended on the generosity of private donors to build one of the great university-based art collections in Canada. The nearly 6,000 works in the museum’s permanent collection feature particular strengths in early twentieth-century German Expressionist art, contemporary Canadian art, and modern and contemporary European art. Donations of both cash and art have driven the growth and quality of the permanent collection – most notably through the visionary donation from Hamilton businessman Herman H. Levy.
McMaster Museum of Art collection
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McMaster Library Donors
The McMaster Library system includes four main library facilities: Mills Memorial Library (humanities and social sciences), H.G. Thode Library of Science & Engineering, Innis Library (business) and the Health Sciences Library. Philanthropic support has long played a key role in the growth and development of library facilities and collections. In fact, the first alumni fundraising campaign in McMaster’s history took place after a fire in the library of McMaster Hall, and Mills Memorial Library is named in recognition of a donation from the Davella Mills Foundation.
In 1994, the McMaster Library unveiled a donor wall in Mills Memorial Library to recognize donors who had contributed $500 or more to the Library in the Centennial Campaign. Subsequently, more than 125 additional names have been added to the wall to recognize gifts of that level following the campaign.
McMaster Library Donors
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Changing Tomorrow Today Campaign
In 1998, McMaster University launched what was, at the time, the largest fundraising campaign in its history. Called “Changing Tomorrow Today,” the campaign had an ambitious goal of $100 million. The campaign chair was future McMaster chancellor Lynton “Red” Wilson ’62 ’95 (honorary), who worked closely with then president & vice-chancellor Peter George and Roger Trull ’79, then McMaster’s vice-president of university advancement, to raise private support for the University both in Canada and abroad. The key campaign themes included student learning, connecting research and teaching, and recruiting and retaining the best professors. When the Changing Tomorrow Today campaign closed in October 2001, it had raised more than $128 million against its original goal while leveraging an additional $181 million in new government support and another $83 million in sponsored research funding.
Changing Tomorrow Today Campaign
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McMaster University Student Centre Campaign
By the time McMaster’s Board of Governors approved a fundraising campaign to attract more than $10 million in private support to what was then called the University Centre Project, the centre had been the dream of more than a decade’s worth of students. In fact, in 1987, McMaster’s full-time undergraduate students – the members of the McMaster Students Union – committed to a $15 annual levy to help fund the project and inspire greater support for the University Centre within the McMaster family.
The University’s fundraising campaign reached its goal in 1998 with scores of alumni, corporations and organizations making gifts to the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC). This list includes significant gifts from the McMaster Association of Part-time Students (MAPS), the McMaster Alumni Association, the Donaldson family and $6 million in total from the DeGroote family, the single gift often cited as the turning point that enabled the project to move ahead.
McMaster University Student Centre Campaign
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Athletics & Recreation Centre and Stadium (ARCS) Campaign
In 2004, the University launched the Athletics & Recreation Centre and Stadium campaign with legendary entrepreneur and basketball official Ron Foxcroft guiding the campaign as chairman.
The campaign attracted broad alumni and public support as reflected in the robust roster of supporters on the campaign donor wall. Three supporters, however, stand out. Ron Joyce’s gift of $10 million to the construction of Ron Joyce Stadium is the largest ever gift to a Canadian university athletics department. David Braley gave $5 million to the construction of the David Braley Athletic Centre and, in a separate gift, contributed $1 million to the centre’s sport medicine and rehabilitation centre which now also bears the Braley name. Finally, McMaster’s full-time undergraduate students voted in favour of a levy on their fees, a levy that will eventually contribute $20 million to the project. The result is that the David Braley Athletic Centre, which opened in 2006, and Ron Joyce Stadium, which opened in 2008, form one of the most advanced university athletics and recreation complexes in the country.
Athletics & Recreation Centre and Stadium (ARCS) Campaign
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Ron Joyce Centre Burlington
The Ron Joyce Centre in Burlington is the home of the MBA and executive education programs of the DeGroote School of Business. The centre offers 90,000 square feet of state-of-the-art classrooms, meeting spaces and lecture facilities, all within a highly sustainable design that received LEED Gold certification.
Opened in September 2010, the Ron Joyce Centre is the result of a partnership between McMaster, the City of Burlington and Halton Region. The project also attracted a significant number of private contributions including the $10 million gift from Ron Joyce that named the centre.
Ron Joyce Centre Burlington
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Engineering Technology Building
The Engineering Technology Building (ETB) – a 125,000 square foot facility located near the University’s Main Street entrance – is home to programs in emerging areas of both study and research including the School of Biomedical Engineering, the Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice and the McMaster-Mohawk Bachelor of Technology Partnership. The award-winning design (Urban Design and Architecture Awards’ Award of Excellence) meets LEED environmental standards and features innovative elements such as the elliptical classroom.
The donor wall in the ETB is, itself, an outstanding piece of design and recognizes the individuals, corporate and organizational donors – and one reunion class, the Class of 1962 Mechanical Engineering – that contributed gifts to the building’s construction.
Engineering Technology Building
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University Club – Great Hall renovation campaign
Alumni Memorial Hall, the building that is home to the University Club (formerly the Faculty Club), was built on the strength of donations from alumni in the 1940’s and 1950’s. In 2009 and 2010, a group of nearly 60 donors gave to support the rejuvenation and preservation of the building’s historic and unique Great Hall. Used for both daily food service and events, the Great Hall is home to the iconic Moulton Window.
University Club – Great Hall renovation campaign
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Science & Engineering Building (JHE Annex) donors
As part of the Centennial Campaign from 1987-1990, private donors along with what was then the Ministry of Colleges and Universities of the Province of Ontario contributed to the construction of new classroom and laboratory space to be added at the southwest corner of the John Hodgins Engineering Building. Opened in 1991, the Science & Engineering Building is more commonly called the JHE Annex. The donor wall recognizes pacesetting donors to the campaign.