WINNIPEG – Ruth (Babs) Asper, 78, matriarch of one of Canada’s biggest media families and a major supporter of the arts, passed away Saturday in Winnipeg and was laid to rest Tuesday afternoon. The cause of her death has been attributed to an aortic rupture.
Hundreds of people gathered at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue including Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger, and many business leaders. The synagogue is the same location where Asper’s husband, Israel (Izzy) Asper, had his funeral in after suffering a heart attack in 2003 at age 71. The couple had been married over 47 years and had three children, Gail, David and Leonard.
Leonard was CEO of Canwest Global Communications Corp. until it was sold last year to Shaw Communications and rebranded as Shaw Media.
Izzy Asper often referred to his wife (pictured) as "the glue" that held the Asper family together, and whose philanthropic activities made her a candidate for Manitoba’s lieutenant-governor.
“Babs was the heart and soul of the Asper culture. She was the keeper of the flame," said ONEX CEO Gerry Schwartz, co-founder of CanWest Global Communications in a statement.
In 1983, she and Izzy co-founded the Asper Foundation, a charitable foundation dedicated to supporting arts, culture, education, community development, and human rights awareness.
She also supported the Manitoba Opera, served on the board of the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre and was a leading force behind the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (BMHR) now under construction. Babs toured the construction site with daughter, Gail, just eight days before she died.
Stuart A. Murray, President and CEO for BMHR called her the “driving force behind many of the Asper family’s philanthropic activities, often working without public acclaim.”
“For those of us who had the good fortune to know her, we understand how tirelessly she worked and recognize how much she contributed to Winnipeg, Manitoba and Canada. She is truly a human rights star.”
To read her full official obituary, please click here.
