Bluma Appel

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Bluma Appel, O.C., O.Ont., Hon. LL.D (1920/1921 – July 15, 2007) was a Canadian philanthropist and patron of the arts.

She was born the daughter of Russian émigrés who left Czarist Russia around 1905 due to the anti-Jewish pogroms then being conducted against the Jewish community there. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, she was the founder of CANFAR, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research.

In 1979, she ran unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate for the Canadian House of Commons in the riding of Nepean—Carleton. She lost to Walter Baker.

She was a big supporter of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, which named one of its theatres in her honour in March 1983 after she made a donation to help renovate the 876-seat theatre. She was also a significant force behind Opera Atelier. In June 2005, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts gave Ms. Appel an honorary Dora Mavor Moore Award "for her exceptional and lifelong dedication" to the performing arts in Canada.

Four days after celebrating her 67th wedding anniversary, Appel lost her brief battle with lung cancer and died in a hospital in Toronto, aged 86. She was buried at Pardes Shalom Cemetery north of Toronto. She is survived by her husband Bram, two sons and five grandchildren.

[edit] Honors & awards

In 1988, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada for being one of a few people "as active in such a broad range of community services as she". [1]
In 1998, she was awarded an Order of Ontario.
In 2001, she was elevated to Officer of the Order of Canada for continuing "her outstanding volunteer work on behalf of numerous cultural, social and health care organizations".
In 2005, she was awarded an honorary Dora Award for her lifelong support of Canadian arts and culture, an honor given to only two other individuals, William Hutt and Urjo Kareda.
In 2006, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto.
In 2007, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brock University.
The Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto is named in her honor.