Murray Frum (September 3, 1931 – May 28, 2013) was a Canadian real estate developer and philanthropist.

Biography

Frum was born to a

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 ...

family on September 3, 1931, the only child of Saul and Rivka Frum, who had emigrated from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

the year before. Most of their family who stayed in Poland were murdered in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. His parents operated a grocery store 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 ...

. Frum attended the King Edward elementary school and in 1950, graduated from the

Harbord Collegiate Institute Harbord Collegiate Institute (HCI or Harbord) is a public secondary school located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school is located in the Palmerston-Little Italy-Annex neighbourhood, situated on the north side of Harbord Street, betw ...

. In 1956, he graduated with a degree in dentistry from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. In 1970 he left dentistry to become a real estate developer (the Frum Development Group) and made his fortune developing suburban strip malls. Frum was a collector of African art and donated over 80 pieces to the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

, one of the largest in North America; and along with his son-in-law,

Howard Sokolowski Howard Sokolowski, is a property developer, philanthropist and sport business owner from Toronto. He is the husband of Linda Frum and was the former co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts with David Cynamon from 2003 to 2010.Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

's 17th-century bronze of the crucifixion to the Art Gallery of Ontario which he bought while its origin was uncertain (it was later appraised at $50 million). Frum served on the boards of the

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...

, the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Study, and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Personal life

Frum married twice. In 1957, he married 19-year-old Barbara Rosberg who would later become a CBC broadcaster; she died of leukemia in 1992. The couple had three children:

David Frum David Jeffrey Frum (; born June 30, 1960) is a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, who is currently a senior editor at ''The Atlantic'' as well as an MSNBC contributor. In 2003, Frum au ...

, a journalist and a former speechwriter for U.S. president

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

;

Linda Frum Linda Frum (born January 13, 1963) is a Canadian author and journalist, and was a Conservative member of the Senate of Canada from 2009 until 2021. She has announced her intention to retire from the Senate effective August 27, 2021 to devote mo ...

, a Canadian senator who is married to

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

despite being a non-smoker.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frum, Murray 1932 births 2013 deaths Canadian philanthropists Canadian real estate businesspeople Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from lung cancer Jewish Canadian philanthropists Canadian dentists Businesspeople from Toronto University of Toronto alumni Canadian art collectors 20th-century philanthropists