GRIT - Ed.05 - Magazine - Page 30
OH CANADA
IN MEMORIAM
was a titan of industry, a philanthropist in a league of his own,
and a beloved patriarch of a family that continues his extraordinary
charitable legacy. For 55 years, he
proudly stood side by side with his
beloved wife Hilary, the 26th Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. With
his typical humility and wit, he
once said “I may not be the man
who accompanies Jackie Kennedy to Paris, but I am the man who
gets to accompany Hilary Weston
to Timmons, Kingston or Kenora”.
A little over a decade ago, NEXT
cofounder Claudia Hepburn suggested that we approach Galen to
seek support for our nascent idea
of creating what would become
The Next 36.
W. Galen Weston
and his wife, Hilary,
at their home where
they hosted candidates
for the 2012 cohort of
The Next 36 program
REMEMBERING
W. GALEN WESTON
Founding Patron of NEXT Canada
By Reza Satchu, Founding Chairman and Co-Chair, NEXT Canada
30
GRIT
W. Galen Weston was a good
friend and a mentor to me, and I
am deeply saddened by his passing. A family statement shared the
news that Galen had died “peacefully at home after a long illness
faced with courage and dignity”.
By any measure, Galen was one
of this country’s most dignified and
accomplished business leaders. He
Galen quickly fell in love with
the idea of mentoring and training
Canada’s most promising young
entrepreneurs, with the goal of
creating a more prosperous and
competitive country. His genuine
excitement at the prospect of empowering young Canadian business leaders was palpable. Galen
made an initial early gift of $1M to
NEXT, and his generosity resulted
in matching gifts of $1M from Paul
Desmarais and Jimmy Pattison.
We were fortunate enough to have
Galen and Hilary host a garden
party at their home in Forest Hill to
announce these Founding Patron
Gifts, and to launch our program.
Galen was a catalyst for what
NEXT Canada is today, and the
success we’ve achieved over the
past ten years. The transformative
impact that NEXT has had on hundreds of young entrepreneurs and
on the Canadian entrepreneurship
ecosystem can be traced directly
to that garden party. On a personal note, I have had the pleasure of
learning from Galen, both about
what it means to be a business
leader, as well as the never-ending
joy that comes with being a parent. His generosity of time and insight is something I will carry with
me forever, He was a remarkable
man in so many ways, but he stood
out as a philanthropist and family
man, and I expect that his legacy
of generosity will live on in the actions of those who had the privilege of calling him a friend.
The Weston Family Foundation
has been a consistent and steadfast supporter of NEXT Canada.
Our board, our staff and the entire
NEXT Canada family extends our
heartfelt condolences.
In August we will once again present the annual W. Galen Weston
Top Entrepreneur Award—this time
in memory of this exceptional Canadian, and in tribute to the legacy
he has created at NEXT.
The Weston Family
Foundation is a NEXT
Canada Visionary
Supporter.
GRIT
31