The late Barrick Gold founder and chairperson emeritus Peter Munk
Photo by: Reuters
VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Munk passed away peacefully in Toronto on Wednesday, miner Barrick Gold said in an announcement.
Munk will best be remembered in mining circles for founding Barrick as a single-asset company in 1983 and building it into the world’s largest bullion producer in fewer than 25 years.
Munk was born in Budapest in 1927. When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, he escaped with his family, ultimately arriving in Toronto in 1948 at the age of 20.
One of Canada’s most significant philanthropists, Munk donated nearly C$300-million to causes and institutions that were close to his heart. With his wife, Melanie, he established the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at the Toronto General Hospital in 1997.
He donated more than C$175-million to the institution, including a C$100-million contribution in 2017 that remains the largest single gift ever made to a Canadian hospital. To his alma mater, the University of Toronto, Munk gave C$47-million to create what has become Canada’s preeminent degree-granting institution for the research and study of global affairs, the Munk School of Global Affairs.
Munk received numerous awards and honours, including honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, Concordia University, Bishop’s University, and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. In 2008, he was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour, limited to no more than 165 living Canadians at any one time.