Helen Elsie Elizabeth Gardiner (née McMinn) (July 18, 1938 – July 22, 2008) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

philanthropist and co-founder of the

Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art (commonly shortened to the Gardiner Museum) is a ceramics museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is situated within University of Toronto's St. George campus, in downtown Toronto. The museum bu ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Biography

Helen Gardiner was born in 1938 in the Northern mining town of

Kirkland Lake Kirkland Lake is a town and municipality in Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The 2016 population, according to Statistics Canada, was 7,981. The community name was based on a nearby lake which in turn was named after Winnifre ...

to a working family. She later moved to Toronto where her father was employed by

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. In 1974, she began attending

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

as a mature student, and in 1979, she travelled to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

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to study at

Christie's Education Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, ...

. Helen was married to prominent Toronto businessman George R. Gardiner, with whom she co-founded the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. Between 1976 and 1984, George and Helen built a distinctive collection of approximately 1,200 objects in a few carefully selected areas that were collected in depth: ancient Central and South American vessels and figures; tin glazed pottery of the Italian Renaissance; seventeenth-century English pottery; and eighteenth-century European porcelain. In 1981, the Ontario government unanimously passed Bill 183 to establish the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art as an independent, public institution. It was officially opened in 1984 on the grounds of Victoria University, Toronto. "George and I built the museum and gave our collection to the people of Canada, but it was our hope that the Gardiner Museum would contribute in a meaningful way to the understanding and appreciation of ceramic art worldwide." Helen was awarded the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in 2007. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2008 at her home in Caledon.

References

People from Kirkland Lake York University alumni 1938 births 2008 deaths Members of the Order of Canada Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from pancreatic cancer Canadian women philanthropists 20th-century Canadian philanthropists 20th-century women philanthropists {{Canada-activist-stub