Ukrainian-born Canadian businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist James Temerty has made a historic $250 million donation to the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine.
According to the announcement published by the university on Sept. 24, this is the single largest contribution ever made in Canada.
The donation has been made through Temerty Foundation, a charity established and run by the philanthropist and his wife Louise.
“I hope it serves as an example for others to give,” Temerty told the Kyiv Post.
To honor its gratitude towards Temerty, the university has renamed the faculty as Temerty Faculty of Medicine, engraving the family’s name in the university’s history.
“It lifts Canadian philanthropy to an unprecedented level of vision and generosity,” president of the University of Toronto Meric Gertler said at the announcement event.
Apart from helping the Canadian university, Temerty’s historic donation promises to deepen the connection between Ukraine and Canada, which has the biggest Ukrainian diaspora in the world.
Healthcare charity
The Temerty Foundation has a long history of philanthropy in the health care field, mental health treatment, and research since its foundation in 1977. Now they are taking their help further.
“We were motivated to help the University of Toronto do what it does best — elevate quality health care and ultimately help as many Canadians as possible,” Temerty said at the event. “Our hope is that this gift will further Toronto’s and Canada’s global leadership in providing the highest quality health care and help to address the most pressing health challenges.”
The funds will be used to establish a new Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine, finance research collaborations across the Toronto Academic Health Science Network, accelerate research with a potential of breakthrough discoveries, create a new Faculty of Medicine building for education and research and more.
“(The donation) propels the University of Toronto’s globally renowned Faculty of Medicine and hospital partners to a position of even greater scientific and clinical leadership in tackling today’s — and tomorrow’s — greatest challenges in human health care,” Gertler said.
Apart from that, the medical faculty will establish the Education and Research Fund for Collaborations with Ukraine. The fund will support visiting fellows, professors, scholars, and students from Ukraine, as well as provide scholarships for Ukrainian students.
Temerty told the Kyiv Post that he is proud to associate his family’s name with the university and its medical faculty in particular, as it is one of the most highly ranked in the world.
The faculty has indeed been a pioneer in advancing human health for years. Some of its proudest achievements include the discovery of insulin and stem cells, developing the first pacemaker, and identifying the genes responsible for early-onset Alzheimer’s.
James Temerty (ukrainianjewishencounter.org)
Ukrainian roots
The Temerty Foundation has also been a big supporter of the Ukrainian diaspora and Ukraine’s development.
Through the years, the family established the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at the Harvard University, funded Ukraine in European Dialogue project at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, the Kyiv Mohyla Business School, the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Atlantic Council’s Ukraine in Europe Initiative, the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium, as well as Kyiv Post+, a media project covering Russia’s war against Ukraine and the aftermath of the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution that toppled Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych.
Temerty, 78, was born in Novotroitske, a small village in Donetsk Oblast.
His family was deported for labor to Germany during World War II. They lived in Europe for about seven years before moving to Canada in 1950.
In Canada, Temerty has had a prominent career as an entrepreneur that started with the launch of the ComputerLand retail store, which eventually grew into a large international chain.
Temerty is also the founder of the Northland Power energy producer, which promotes the responsible use and protection of the natural environment. An innovative pioneer in alternative energy, the company is estimated to be worth more than $7 billion.
Diane Francis, a U.S.-born Canadian award-winning author and journalist who is a friend of the Temerty family, says that they are “the most exceptional people” she knows.
“Their business success — in the fields of computers and renewable energy — has been extraordinary but so has their philanthropy and generosity toward good causes,” Francis told the Kyiv Post.
A chair of the National Advisory Council for the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and a chair of the Advisory Council of the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, Temerty is a ranking member of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, Francis says.
“Jim has devoted a great deal of time, resources, and effort to Ukrainian causes,” Francis says.
For his philanthropy and entrepreneurship, Temerty has been recognized with a number of awards, including the Order of Canada, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Medal, which recognizes contributions to the cause of Ukrainian-Jewish cooperation, and Ukraine’s Order of Yaroslav the Wise, the highest tribute Ukraine can confer to a foreign citizen.
