Murray Frum (September 3, 1931 – May 28, 2013) was a Canadian real estate developer and philanthropist.

Biography

Frum was born to a Jewish family on September 3, 1931, the only child of Saul and Rivka Frum, who had emigrated from Poland the year before. ^[1] Most of their family who stayed in Poland were murdered in the Holocaust. ^[1] His parents operated a grocery store in Toronto. ^{[2] [3]} Frum attended the King Edward elementary school and in 1950, graduated from the Harbord Collegiate Institute. ^[1] In 1956, he graduated with a degree in dentistry from the University of Toronto. ^[2] In 1970 he left dentistry to become a real estate developer ^[2] (the Frum Development Group) and made his fortune developing suburban strip malls. ^[1]

Frum was a collector of African art and donated over 80 pieces to the Art Gallery of Ontario, one of the largest in North America; and along with his son-in-law, Howard Sokolowski, built the gallery in which the collection is housed. ^[2] He later expanded into Renaissance art. ^[2] In 2007, he donated Bernini's 17th-century bronze of the crucifixion to the Art Gallery of Ontario which he bought while its origin was uncertain (it was later appraised at $50 million). ^{[2] [1]} Frum served on the boards of the Stratford Festival, the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Study, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. ^[2]

Personal life

Frum married twice. In 1957, he married 19-year-old Barbara Rosberg ^[3] who would later become a CBC broadcaster; she died of leukemia in 1992. ^{[2] [4]} The couple had three children: David Frum, a journalist and a former speechwriter for U.S. president George W. Bush; Linda Frum, a Canadian senator who is married to Howard Sokolowski; and Matthew Frum. ^[2]

His second marriage was to Nancy Lockhart. ^[2] He died on May 28, 2013, at his home in Toronto of lung cancer despite being a non-smoker. ^{[2] [1]}

References