Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Background  





2 Philanthropy  





3 Honours  





4 Death  





5 References  





6 External links  














Alma Ricard







Add links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 
















Appearance
   

 






From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Alma Ricard OC, née Vézina (October 4, 1906 – June 2, 2003) was a Canadian broadcaster and philanthropist.[1] A partner with her husband F. Baxter Ricard in his broadcasting holdings, including Northern Cable and Mid-Canada Communications, after her husband's death in 1993 she became a prominent donor to institutional and educational charities.[1]

Background

[edit]

Born in Montreal, she moved to Sudbury in 1931 after accepting a job as a secretary at the hardware store operated by Baxter Ricard's father Félix.[1] She later married Baxter Ricard, and the couple took over the hardware store before moving into broadcasting with the launch of CHNO in 1947.[1] Their broadcast holdings later expanded to include CFBR in 1957, Northern Cable in the early 1970s, and CJMX-FM and the MCTV television system in 1980;[1] they were also shareholders in the Toronto-area cable and broadcasting company CUC Broadcasting.[1] She also served on Sudbury's municipal urban planning committee, and on the board of directors of the Sudbury General Hospital.[1]

Philanthropy

[edit]

Beginning in 1990, the Ricards began selling off their broadcast holdings, with the television stations acquired by Baton Broadcasting and the radio stations acquired by Pelmorex.[1] The Ricards had no children to inherit their wealth, and began to plan a charitable foundation,[1] which was formally launched after Baxter's death as the Fondation Baxter & Alma Ricard.[1]

The foundation's beneficiaries included Cambrian College,[1] Laurentian University[2] and the Sudbury General Hospital,[1] although her donation to the hospital — which had been earmarked for the purchase of an MRI machine — was withdrawn after the government of Mike Harris announced that the hospital would be merged into the Sudbury Regional Hospital and the MRI machine would be delivered to the formerly competing Laurentian Hospital instead.[3]

Ricard also donated $1 million to St. Michael's HospitalinToronto for a study on the health impacts of inner city poverty;[4] the hospital created the Baxter and Alma Ricard Chair in Inner City Health in 1998.[5]

In 1998, Ricard made her largest philanthropic donation, giving $23 million[6] to create the Fondation Baxter & Alma Ricard fellowship fund for French Canadian students in university graduate studies.[7] The fund remains in operation today.

In 1999, she endowed a research chair in neurosurgery at the University of Toronto.[8]

Honours

[edit]

She was granted an honorary doctorate by Laurentian University in 1997.[9] She later received another honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa.[6]

In 1999, she was inducted into the Order of La Pléiade.

In 2000, Ricard was named an Officer of the Order of Canada,[10] in honor of both her philanthropic work and her longtime history of community involvement.[10] As Ricard was in poor health and unable to travel to Ottawa for her induction, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson personally travelled to Sudbury in 2002 to present Ricard with the honour.[1]

Death

[edit]

Ricard died on June 2, 2003, in Sudbury, aged 96.[6] Her funeral was held at the city's Sainte-Anne-des-Pins church, and was attended by dignitaries including businessman Paul Desmarais and former Governor General Roméo LeBlanc.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Philanthropist extraordinaire". The Globe and Mail, July 4, 2003.
  • ^ "Coming of Age celebrates end to successful campaign". Sudbury Star, June 5, 2000.
  • ^ "Town mourns its hospitals: Sudbury reeling as two facilities slated to close". Toronto Star, April 18, 1996.
  • ^ "$1 million donation will help fund health study". Toronto Star, April 18, 1996.
  • ^ "Hospital hopes research leads to better care for poor St. Michael's creates first chair in inner-city health". The Globe and Mail, May 26, 1998.
  • ^ a b c d "Sudbury loses its greatest philanthropist; Ricard dies at 96". Sudbury Star, June 4, 2003.
  • ^ "Three Sudbury-area students among: Baxter & Alma Ricard fellowship winners". Sudbury Star, March 23, 2000.
  • ^ "Large donations boost U of T research, trigger hiring spree: Number of endowed chairs jumps to 111 from 100 in just two weeks". The Globe and Mail, May 20, 1999.
  • ^ "Columnist Johnson gets honorary degree". Montreal Gazette, April 10, 1997.
  • ^ a b "Sudburian receives the Order of Canada". Sudbury Star, July 14, 2000.
  • [edit]
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alma_Ricard&oldid=1206415214"

    Categories: 
    1906 births
    2003 deaths
    Businesspeople from Greater Sudbury
    Businesspeople from Montreal
    Canadian women in business
    Officers of the Order of Canada
    Franco-Ontarian people
    Canadian mass media owners
    20th-century Canadian philanthropists
     



    This page was last edited on 12 February 2024, at 02:51 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki