Mary Rozsa de Coquet
When Mary Rozsa de Coquet took on leadership of her family’s private charitable foundation, she expected to attend a meeting once a year and “write five cheques.”
Instead, the former schoolteacher’s role as chair and executive director of the Rozsa Foundation has spanned 16 years, supporting Calgary’s arts community with grants, consulting and training programs that strengthen the “back-of-thehouse” business of running those organizations.
De Coquet’s parents began the family tradition of philanthropy. Lola and Ted Rozsa donated millions to arts, health and educational groups, including a $3-million donation that launched the Rozsa Centre at the University of Calgary. When her father decided to sell his oil and gas company — from which foundation funding had flowed — he suggested de Coquet (then running a mortgage company) assume foundation operations.
She immediately commissioned a study to find out who was donating and what they were funding.
“We were coming off government cuts, and corporations were supporting health and education. The arts were way down the line.”
After a talk with her mom and sister, the foundation launched the Rozsa Awards for Excellence in Arts Management. Since 2002, more than $1 million in benefits have been given to outstanding administrators and their organizations.
Last year, the Order of Canada recipient stepped back from dayto-day foundation operations while remaining board chair.
“It was the right time. I didn’t know what the next thing for me was, but knew it would be the right thing.”
Expecting to spend the summer pondering her future, she lost her sight. Fortunately, surgery and medicine restored her health and she is contemplating entering provincial or federal politics. She briefly flirted with civic politics in 2001 but dropped out to care for ailing parents.
De Coquet continues to sit on national philanthropic, church and arts boards.
But the Rozsa Foundation’s work in helping build and connect Calgary’s arts community with research and business acumen reflects her oft-repeated life view: “Art is like water: essential for life and it flows everywhere.”