My former boss, Gary Slaight, and his family made a very significant donation yesterday that will benefit us all.
The Slaight family, former owners of Standard Broadcasting, donated $50-million dollars to be split evenly at five Toronto hospitals that serve all Ontarians. CAMH, for example, is the country’s leading centre for mental health treatment. It was also made clear that the family worked closely with administrators to determine where the money would go. In other words, they weren’t interested in lining the pockets of highly paid hospital CEOs.
It wouldn’t be a Slaight event without a little star power so Tom Cochrane played a song at yesterday’s announcement. Back when I worked at The MIX/CFRB, Gary would call on his famous friends to serenade us at staff Christmas parties, from Dan Hill to The Partland Brothers to John McDermott to Gordon Lightfoot.
They’re hoping more wealthy people take a cue from their generosity. Gary told The Toronto Sun, “Our feeling is that our money is not going to necessarily do much good when we’re all gone so we’re trying to do some good things with it while we’re all here.” Good on you, Gary, and thank you. I only hope others are watching and learning.