Mount Sinai hosts The Gala of the Century, Sept. 12, Toronto
Nearly every one of the 2000 seats inside Toronto’s Four Seasons Center for the performing arts were filled on the evening of Sept. 12 for a fundraiser titled ‘The Gala of the Century,’ hosted by and in support of Mount Sinai. The event celebrated the 100th anniversary of the remarkable and internationally-recognized acute care academic health sciences centre, which opened in Toronto in 1923. It took nearly 10 years of knocking on neighbourhood doors for a group of four women from Toronto’s Jewish community to raise the $12,000 needed to start the hospital. This latest gathering raised $12.5 million to support the Sinai 100 Fund, an endowment established to ensure the institution’s prosperity well into it’s next century. Following cocktails in the centre’s atrium, comedian and actor Martin Short took to the main stage to emcee the big event, which included the premiere of a Barry Avrich-directed doc which explored Mount Sinai’s history and impact in Toronto and around the globe, and a headlining performance by Canadian-born crooner Michael Bublé. Gala Co-Chairs Jennifer and Ken Tanenbaum and Leslie Giller and Andrew Hoffman spoke, as did Ontario Premiere Doug Ford; and Immediate past Sinai Health Board chair Peter Cohen. Among those in the audience: Gary and Donna Slaight whose Slaight Family Foundation was a key sponsor; Colliers CEO Jay Hennick and his wife Barbara, who were major donors to the event; Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow; philanthropic duos Earle and Janice O’Born and Max and Heather Gotlieb (Mrs. O’Born and Mr. Gotlieb both serve on the Sinai Foundation Board); CEO of Sinai Health Gary Newton and CEO of Sinai Health Foundation Louis de Melo; plus an abundance of Sinai board members including K2 Pure Solutions Chairman David Cynamon, CEO of Metropia Howard Sokolowski, and KingSett Capital’s Rob Kumer; RP Investment Advisors CEO Richard Pilosof, current chair of the Foundation board was there, as was immediate past chair Maxine Granovsky Gluskin.
Richard Pilosof and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin at Mount Sinai's The Gala of the Century, Sept. 12, in Toronto.Ryan Emberley/The Globe and Mail
Nancy Kumer, Rob Kumer, Barbara Schechter and Menasche Schechter.Ryan Emberley/The Globe and Mail
Ken and Jennifer Tanenbaum, Leslie Giller and Andrew Hoffman.Ryan Emberley/The Globe and Mail
Max and Heather Gotlieb.Ryan Emberley/The Globe and Mail
Howard Sokolowski, Linda Frum, Karen and Dave McKay.George Pimentel/The Globe and Mail
Jay and Barbara Hennick.George Pimentel/The Globe and Mail
Martin Short and Michael Bublé.George Pimentel/The Globe and Mail
Debbie and Warren Kimel.Ryan Emberley/The Globe and Mail
Stacey and David Cynamon.Ryan Emberley/The Globe and Mail
Donna and Gary Slaight.Ryan Emberley/The Globe and Mail
Bal du MAC toasts 60 years, Sept. 14, Montreal
The first phase of Royalmount, Quebec’s largest private development which is home to posh shops, restaurants, office and green spaces was recently unveiled, and for the night of Sept. 14 it served as the locale for Bal du MAC, the most important annual fundraiser for Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain. Nearly $1 million was raised at the gathering, which was also an opportunity to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Canada’s first major institution dedicated entirely to contemporary art. With major renovations of the museum, which is housed in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles, under way, a temporary home in Place Ville Marie has been an interim hive of MAC creativity, with twice annual exhibitions and a plethora of programs (which the gala raised funds for) all still on offer. Stephen Bronfman, one half of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation and a co-chair of the MAC’s major fundraising campaign; Julie Couture, an artist who also heads the MAC Foundation’s Board of Directors; and Laurent Ferreira, President and CEO of National Bank were the evening co-chairs. Filling the room were some 800 guests, indulging business types like entrepreneur Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien III and Groupe Dynamite CEO Andrew Lutfy, and arts movers including gallerist Antoine Ertaskiran, Chief Curator at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Mary-Dailey Desmarais and filmmaker, singer and activist Alanis Obonsawin, whose work is the subject of a major MAC exhibition opening September 26. The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, MAC board members including Sara Jolicoeur, Eva Hartling, Francis Guindon and Marie-Josee Simard, who also sat on the organizing committee and Anne Lebel, Executive Director of the MAC Foundation, were all there too.
Mary-Dailey Desmarais.Gabriel Fournier/The Globe and Mail
Virginie Coosa and Claude Meunier.Gabriel Fournier/The Globe and Mail
Stephen Bronfman, Julie Couture and Laurent Ferreira.Gabriel Fournier/The Globe and Mail
Bal du Mac, Sept. 14, in Montreal.Gabriel Fournier/The Globe and Mail
Alanis Obonsawin and Lily Fortin.Gabriel Fournier/The Globe and Mail
Melanie Cosgrove and Andrew Lutfy.Gabriel Fournier/The Globe and Mail
Felix Marzell, Melanie Joly, Serge Sasseville.Gabriel Fournier/The Globe and Mail