TORONTO – Notable Jewish businessman and philanthropist Joseph Rotman passed away today, Jan. 27, at age 80.
Rotman, born in Toronto in 1935, was most widely known for his affiliation with the business school of his alma mater, the University of Toronto, of which he was the chief benefactor, donating some $42 million to the school. It was renamed the Rotman School of Management in 1997.
“The University of Toronto, and indeed all of Canada, has lost one of its greatest champions,” said U of T president Meric Gertler. “Joseph Rotman believed that each of us has a responsibility to help build civil society. He had great faith in young Canadians, in their eagerness and ability to lead the way in that cause. And he was supremely confident in Canada’s ability to compete and to contribute on the global stage.”
Rotman also funded Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute, a premier centre for the study of human brain function established in 1989.
He and his wife Sandra both sat on numerous boards and have donated more than $90 million to causes about which they cared deeply, such as the arts, education and health care.
In 1995, Rotman was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada, and elected to the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.
His illustrious business career began in the early 1960s, when he got his start trading oil. He went on to work at real estate and venture capital companies, and to establish a number of companies of his own, both private and public, in oil trading, petroleum distribution, oil and gas exploration, merchant banking, real estate and venture capital.
The list of companies he helmed includes Barrick Gold Corporation, the Bank of Montreal, Premdor, Canada Northwest Energy. and Tarragon Oil and Gas.
In 1987, Rotman founded the merchant bank and private equity management firm Clairvest Group Inc.
Rotman has been praised as a leader and city builder by politicians such as Toronto mayor John Tory and Ontario Minister of Health Eric Hoskins, both of whom lamented his passing on Twitter.
“My dear friend and mentor Joe Rotman. rest in peace. You lived a great life of generosity, compassion and brilliance. I am heartbroken,” Hoskins tweeted Jan. 27.
“Mr. Rotman was a true city builder, demonstrating a commitment to developing Canadian institutions in the arts, education and healthcare,” Tory tweeted.
Rotman’s dedication and patronage to the arts was evident insofar as he served as chair of the board of the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1993 to 1996, as a member of the board of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards from 1996 to 1998 and as chair of the Canada Council of the Arts from 2008 to 2013.
In addition to his involvement with U of T, the Rotmans supported the University of Western Ontario with the Rotman Institute of Philosphy – Enaging Science, a centre that works to bridges the humanities and the sciences, and through his establishment of the Rotman Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Science.
His contribution to the field of life sciences and innovation is demonstrated by the 1989 development of the Rotman Research Institute, established to build knowledge around cognitive neuroscience and his founding and being a member of the board of directors of Toronto’s Medical and Related Sciences Discovery District (MARS).
He is survived by his wife, Sandra Frieberg, and their two children, Janis and Kenneth.
