2017 GALLERY OF DISTINCTION
Seven distinguished citizens of Hamilton will be inducted on November 14.
Hamilton’s Gallery of Distinction, which recognizes those who have made a lasting contribution to the city, has named its inductees for 2017: Ed Cummings: Cummings, the chief organizer of the city’s Santa Claus Parade from the 1970s to 2013, built a vast network of volunteers to run the event, through his connections to service clubs, the police service, the Irish-Canadian community, his business associates, and his own initiative. He has also been long involved with the Wearing of the Green committee, which recognizes Hamilton’s Irish Person of the Year each St. Patrick’s Day. He was a police officer, businessman and long-serving volunteer. Gwen Metcalfe (posthumously): Metcalfe is credited with turning Dundurn Castle from a local curiosity to a nationally-ranked museum. She started as a summer receptionist at the castle and eventually became curator and centennial project co-ordinator. She was the driving force in restoring the castle to its 1855 look as when Sir Allan Napier MacNab, lawyer, businessman and Premier of the United Canadas, had his home there. She also secured numerous artifacts, including MacNab family portraits. Metcalfe died in 1997. Frank Raso: The founder of Hamilton’s Festitalia, Raso grew up in wartime and postwar Italy before coming to Canada in 1956 at age 18. Two years later, he joined Allan Candy Ltd. and within three years, was plant manager
— following which he took night school classes for 16 years. Raso has also served as president of the Hamilton Congress of Italian Canadians and the Sons of Italy Hamilton, on the boards of Opera Hamilton and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra — and is a founding board member of the Sons of Italy Hamilton Housing Corporation and Villa Italia. Tom and Sasha Weisz: The philanthropic Weisz have volunteered as leaders of numerous organizations — local ones like McMaster University, St. Joseph’s Healthcare, Hamilton Health Sciences,
Theatre Aquarius and The Art Gallery of Hamilton — and internationally ones like The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal, Yad Vashem and the National Holocaust Monument, Save a Child’s Heart and the Jewish National Fund. Vitek Wincza: Wincza, who brought the once Hamilton Conservatory of Music back to life as the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, provide programs for 1,000 students a year. He created the Canadian Ballet Ensemble connecting young performers with experienced professionals. His charitable organization, Culture for Kids in the Arts, brings arts to thousands of children in Hamilton’s priority neighbourhoods. Wincza came to Hamilton in 1982, having defected from Poland after dance performances at Hamilton Place. Maureen Worron-Sauvé: Worron-Sauvé, diagnosed with scleroderma in 2002, helped spearhead the Hamilton Scleroderma Group and the Scleroderma Patient-centred Intervention Network and has co-authored 10 medical research papers. She has been president of both the Canadian and Ontario Scleroderma societies and received the Messenger of Hope Award from the U.S. Scleroderma Foundation in 2016, and the Rare Honour Award from the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders in 2014. She and husband David Sauvé own and operate seven Tim Hortons outlets, and co-founded Core Urban Inc. that has redeveloped Hamilton properties.