Thomas Schwartz, a Canadian real estate giant and philanthropist, died on Aug. 15 of complications from prostate cancer, at the age of 68.
The news came just months after an April 2017 statement that informed his Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAPREIT) employees that Schwartz, CAPREIT’s president and CEO, had been diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer, but was optimistic he would return to work following treatment.
When Trinity Group president and CEO Fred Waks – who has known Schwartz and his wife, Marjorie, for more than 35 years – heard Schwartz had taken a turn for the worse, he was “surprised and deeply saddened.
“We all thought he was going to recover from it, because he was such a strong and vibrant person,” Waks said.
Waks said Schwartz’s death is a loss to the real estate community, the Jewish community, the city of Toronto and, of course, to his loving family.
“He had great integrity. He was involved in community, always stepped up as a leader, in terms of being a part of our community, and he was a great family man. He was passionate about everything he did,” Waks said.
READ: RETURNING TO SCHOOL: LESS SCARY THAN RAISING FOUR KIDS ON MY OWN
Schwartz, who graduated as a chartered accountant in 1975, decided to pursue a career in real estate development. A year later, he co-founded Intraurban Projects to develop new housing projects in established communities.
In 1996, he partnered with Michael Stein to establish CAPREIT, one of Canada’s largest residential landlords, which owns interests in almost 49,000 residential units in Canada and the Netherlands.
In addition to the countless real estate boards he sat on, he also had roles with Jewish community organizations, including the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation and the Kehilla Residential Programme, an affordable housing agency affiliated with the UJA Federation of Greater
‘He was one of the first who saw the potential from small, obscure collections of apartments, and built Canada’s largest, most successful apartment regions’
Schwartz also gave to causes, including the preschool centre at the Miles Nadal JCC in Toronto, which is named after Thomas and Marjorie Schwartz.
“He was a big part of Federation and that’s where I came across him, in terms of my tzedakah work,” Waks said. “Anytime I was chairing a dinner, he always stepped up and was there to buy a table. Whatever the cause would be, he never said no,” Waks said.
“When I started in the real estate business, he was one of my mentors and he was seriously smart, gracious, funny, competent and generous to a fault. (He) was a great sounding board, a mentor, a friend, and someone that would always tell it to you straight. He was one of the most decent human beings I’ve ever met in all facets.”
Vision Capital CEO and president Jeff Olin said that since he learned about Schwartz’s death, “the tears won’t stop.”
“Tom was a great man, a great friend, he was extremely loyal, a principled person. I got to know him and his family well. He was dedicated to family, his children, his wife. He was a pioneer in the (real estate investment trust) industry, that’s for sure,” Olin said.
“He was one of the first who saw the potential from small, obscure collections of apartments, and built Canada’s largest, most successful apartment regions.”
Although the funeral was held Aug. 17 at Beth Tzedec Synagogue, friends and family flocked to the Benjamin’s Park Memorial Chapel website, where an announcement about Schwartz’s death was posted, to leave messages of condolences to his family.
One writer spoke of Schwartz as an inspirational leader: “His vision, drive and brilliance were always tempered by his thoughtfulness and sense of fairness. He was a role model for me, and I know for many others as well. He will surely be missed deeply by his own family, but by so many other people as well.”
Another described Schwartz as one of the kindest and fairest people she’d ever known and said that, “His honesty and integrity earned him the respect of all who came in contact with him whether on a personal level, in the business community or the community at large. Tom was proud of his many accomplishments as he should have been but first and foremost he was proud of you, his family.”
Schwartz is survived by his mother, sister, wife, children and grandchildren.
