bill gladstone
jta
TORONTO | Israel “Izzy” Asper, the Winnipeg-based media mogul who turned a single television station into an international communications empire worth billions of dollars, has died at age 71.
The founder and chairman of the CanWest Global media empire, which operated one of Canada’s national TV networks and published 11 major daily newspapers across Canada, is being remembered for his extraordinary philanthropy — he reportedly gave away more than $100 million in the past four years alone — and for his outspoken and unstinting support of Israel.
The company did not announce the cause of Asper’s death Tuesday, but unconfirmed media reports mention a heart attack.
Asper’s passing triggered a flood of tributes, including one from Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who spent an hour with Asper last Friday.
“He was a great Canadian,” Chretien said. “He will be very difficult to replace.”
An officer of the prestigious Order of Canada, Asper was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1996.
He held dozens of other awards and many honorary degrees, including an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he built an entrepreneurial center. He had served on Hebrew U.’s international board of governors for more than two decades.
A former member of Manitoba’s Parliament and a leader of the provincial Liberal Party in the early 1970s, Asper remained deeply attached to his native province and its capital, Winnipeg.
His charitable gifts to the city include an arts center, park, theater, multimedia classroom, a business school at the University of Manitoba and a research institute at St. Boniface Hospital.
“He went far beyond the Jewish community, but he never forgot his roots,” said Winnipeg writer Allan Levine, who wrote two books for CanWest Global in recent years.
“He was a generous supporter of Jewish causes, but his philanthropic activities stretched far and wide in support of many charitable organizations beyond the Jewish community,” observed Keith Landy, national president of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
Asper died before seeing his boldest charitable endeavor to completion. Earlier this year he announced plans for a $270-million facility, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, to be built in a prime section of Winnipeg’s historic riverfront.
Asper leaves his wife Ruth, also known as “Babs,” sons David and Leonard, and daughter Gail.