$40M gift to Sick Kids for ‘children around the world’
Thirty-four years ago, Peter Gilgan purchased two lots in his hometown of Burlington on which he built two houses. That was the start of Mattamy Homes — named for the first of his eight children, Matt and Amy — a company that would become Canada’s largest builder of houses. Back then, Gilgan reinvested revenue into the company to grow it. It went from a one-man operation to one that employs 750 and from two homes to more than 50,000 in both Canada and the United States. Now, after achieving what he calls a “modicum of business success,” Gilgan is one of Canada’s richest men. And he’s able to “enjoy the fruits of those goals” by giving back.
On Wednesday, Gilgan donated $40 million to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, the biggest contribution ever made to the hospital.
Intensely private, he briefly stepped into the limelight to make the donation.
While happy to discuss his philanthropic work, he bristles when the questions get personal and is reluctant even to give his age.
“There is a six in front of my age,” he says, acknowledging he is 60 “ish,” then offering up that he is 61.
Gilgan has been awarded the Order of Ontario for his philanthropic work and business achievements.
He has given multimillions to numerous causes — the exact tally he says he doesn’t know — but this one to Sick Kids is his single largest gift.
Though he may not be a familiar name, he soon will be.
The former Maple Leaf Gardens is being renamed the Peter Gilgan Athletic Centre in recognition of a $15 million donation to the university that some of his children attended.
But shy of the spotlight, Gilgan indicates that his philanthropy is not motivated by the pursuit of recognition. It has nothing to do with getting older either, he says.
“It has nothing to do with age, it has to do with stage, your stage in life and your stage in your business career,” says Gilgan, who never went to university, but instead enrolled in a chartered accounting program after high school.
“I’m going to be okay, Jack. You start out having to put your business success first and you can’t start giving away the first dollar you make because you need to save that for a rainy day and use that to grow your business,” he says.
“But at some point you say, okay, I’m going to be okay now and now I can start to help out more.”
Gilgan is definitely going to be okay. He’s No. 47 on Canadian Business’s list of the country’s richest, with a net worth of $1.4 billion. A glimpse into his lifestyle was provided when his former home went on the market about five years ago following his split from his wife, Jennifer. At the time, the Georgian-style mansion was the most expensive residential property ever to be listed for sale in Canada. Originally on sale for $45 million, it reportedly went for much less. Gilgan’s six sons and two daugh- ters, in their late teens to mid-30s, were never treated at Sick Kids and his four grandchildren have never required the hospital’s services either, “touch wood,” he says. But he knows others who have. “I have relatives and friends whose children have been somewhat raised inside Sick Children’s,” he says. “They are now young adults and doing extremely well and I credit Sick Kids for a lot of that.” This isn’t the first time he has giv- en to the hospital. From 2005 to 2008, he spearheaded an annual cycling event that raised close to $1 million for the hospital’s pain management program. An avid cyclist himself, he and up to 40 other executives and friends rode some 200 kilometres from his cottage in Muskoka to Toronto.
He made the decision to make his latest contribution to the hospital last fall following a tour of the construction site where the new research facility is being erected at Bay and Elm streets.
It wasn’t just the possibilities of what the centre could offer children but by the actual design of the structure that caught his builder interests.“i think what really nailed it is the social aspect,” he said, describing how the 21-storey structure will be divided into six neighbourhoods with spaces on every third floor for formal and informal meetings.
“Often it’s the discussion in the hallways where you get your aha moment, where you really get enlightened about something . . . This building is designed to really facilitate those kinds of discussions.”
Gilgan says he feels “privileged” to be able to help build this new kind of community.