Petro Lopata

On May 29, St Josephs Health Centre, one of Torontos oldest hospitals, received the biggest private donation in its 114-year history from one of Canadas richest people Ukrainian Canadian Eugene Melnyk. The $5 million gift will go a long way to help the hospital in its $70 million dollar restructuring project.

Melnyk, Chairman and CEO of pharmaceutical company Biovail, grew up in the Bloor West Village, a Toronto neighbourhood with a strong Ukrainian presence. He told reporters that as a teenager, he worked at a retirement home, and that the memory of the sick and helpless patients would never leave him. Now that he has become a billionaire, he said that he has the means to do something to change the predicament of those in need. Ontarios government has promised $42 million for the project and hospital staff will continue it fundraising drive to revamp the century-old complex.

Melnyk was one of 100 individuals who last year were recipients of the Award of Recognition, a prize instituted by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch to mark the centenary of Ukrainian settlement in Toronto.