Irving Ungerman (February 1, 1923 – October 27, 2015) was a Canadian businessman, sports promoter and a prominent member of the Toronto Jewish community.

Early life

Ungerman was born to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrants in

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 ...

, Canada. His parents ran a series of businesses, starting with a small

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

butcher shop and culminating in large poultry and egg store. Ungerman learned to box as a teenager, and became a city boxing champion at the age of 15.

Sports promoter

Ungerman made his name as boxing promoter and manager, becoming in 1973 the first person ever elected to the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame. Ungerman instituted boxing on Canadian closed-circuit television in the early 1960s and was responsible for establishing Canada’s Friday Night at the Fights on commercial TV. In addition to the world of boxing, Ungerman served on the 1972 organizing committee that developed the inaugural hockey series between Team Canada and the Soviet National Team. And he was a key figure on the organizing committee responsible for bringing

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

to Toronto. He was one of Canada's most ardent supporters of amateur and professional sport. He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He managed and represented Canadian boxing champions George Chuvalo and

Clyde Gray Clyde Gray (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian professional welter/ light middle/middleweight boxer of the 1960s, '70s and '80s who won the Canada welterweight title, and Commonwealth welterweight title, and was a challenger for the North Americ ...

. Ungerman has been a long-time supporter of numerous organizations throughout Ontario including the Salvation Army, Variety Village, the Reena Foundation, the Hospital for Sick Children and Mount Sinai Hospital as well as an active fundraiser and patron of the arts. He was also the director of the Santa Claus Parade. Ungerman was awarded the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is adm ...

in 2000, which recognizes the highest level of individual excellence and achievement in any field.

Legacy

In June 2015, Irving Ungerman's memoirs were published under the name "Think and Respect" - his personal motto. Ungerman died at the age of 92 in Toronto, Ontario on October 27, 2015 after suffering a stroke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ungerman, Irving Boxing promoters Businesspeople from Toronto 1923 births 2015 deaths Jewish Canadian philanthropists Members of the Order of Ontario 20th-century Canadian philanthropists