Individually, they’re among Toronto’s biggest bigwigs. Together, they’re unstoppable. Here, a look at the Toronto power couples defining the city today.
(Images: Daniel Ehrenworth, Vanessa Heins, Markian Lozowchuk, George Pimentel, Lee Towndrow, Raina and Wilson, BFA, CP Images, Getstock, Getty Images and Reuters)
HOME BASE: Forest Hill and Niagara-on-the-Lake
PET PROJECTS: Fort York revitalization (for which they secured $1 million from the Weston Foundation), CANFAR (which counts them among their most prominent members)
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Jim Flaherty and Christine Elliott, Gord and Janet Nixon, Tony and Shari Fell
HOME BASE: U of T president’s residence, Rosedale
PET PROJECTS: U of T expansion projects, stem cell research funding
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: John and Gay Evans, David and Shelley Peterson, Rob Prichard and Ann Wilson, Gord Nixon
HOME BASE: North York
PET PROJECTS: The United Jewish Appeal, the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto, the United Way, Baycrest, Mount Sinai
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Ron Appleby, Fred Waks, Murray Koffler, Gord Nixon, John Tory, Ron Osborne, Paul Godfrey
HOME BASE: Rosedale
PET PROJECTS: Conquering both land and sky, sticking it to Air Canada
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Porter passengers, including Bay Street bigwigs and Ottawa politicos
HOME BASE: Forest Hill; Vero Beach, Florida; Windsor, England
PET PROJECTS: The ROM, the Ontario Science Centre, the AGO, Fort York, the Writers’ Trust
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla, Tony and Helen Graham, Susan Perren, Martin Connell and Linda Haynes, John and Sally Eaton
HOME BASE: Forest Hill
PET PROJECTS: The AGO, U of T, the National Ballet (they sponsor principal dancer Heather Ogden)
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Gerry Sheff and Shanitha Kachan, Matthew Teitelbaum, Larry and Judy Tanenbaum, Jack Rabinovitch, Charles and Libby Winograd
HOME BASE: Rosedale and Palm Beach, Florida
PET PROJECTS: HESEG (a charity for Israeli soldiers), the Peres Center for Peace in Israel, the Harper Conservatives
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Brent and Lynn Belzberg, Rob and Ann Prichard, Michael Budman and Diane Bald, Larry and Judy Tanenbaum, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones
HOME BASE: Forest Hill
PET PROJECTS: U of T, UHN, AGO, COC, Baycrest, Western University
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Roger Martin, Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz, Tony Graham, Peter and Melanie Munk, Rosalie and Irving Abella, Rob Prichard and Ann Wilson, Lawrence and Fran Bloomberg
HOME BASE: Forest Hill
PET PROJECTS: SickKids Foundation, the Onexone Foundation, young fashion designers
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: John Tory, Peter Godsoe, Duncan Jackman, Michael Burns
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