John DANIELS

JOHN 'JACK' H. DANIELS John 'Jack' H. Daniels, legendary real estate developer and humanitarian, passed away peacefully at his home in Toronto on Saturday, October 22, 2022, at 96 years of age. Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1926, John fled to Toronto with his parents, Aba and Esther Danilack and two siblings, Jeanette and Phillip, less than six months before Hitler's invasion in 1939. He vigorously adapted to his new life, rising to high school Valedictorian. His notable remarks were equal parts ambition, determination and empathy: the blueprint for his life. He went on to study architecture at the University of Toronto. In fourth year, he and two classmates borrowed funds, bought land and built a handful of houses, doing much of the labour themselves. It was then that John realized his dream was to build, not design. In 1958, John joined Eph Diamond and Joe Berman at their fledgling Cadillac Development Corporation, sharing a vision of best-in-class building. He began without a formal contract, a harbinger of the instinct that John had for people as well as business. In the decades of extraordinary growth that followed, he served both as CEO and Chairman. In 1974, Cadillac merged with The Fairview Corporation and grew into one of the largest, most diversified real estate portfolios in North America, including landmarks such as the Toronto Eaton Centre, the Toronto Dominion Centre, 4000 Yonge Street, the 4700-acre Erin Mills community and hundreds of other buildings in the GTA, across Canada and the US. In 1983, John formed The Daniels Corporation, with a mission to integrate social, cultural, and economic well-being into its projects. Since then, among 35,000 units of residential, commercial and retail units in the GTA, are what have become affordable housing templates: Daniels First Home and the Regent Park revitalization. John had a lifelong commitment to 'tzedakah' the Jewish obligation to do what is right and just, especially helping those in need. He started in the mid-fifties as architect, fundraiser and then major donor to The Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto, where his father taught for 28 years. For 25 years The Daniels Corporation has been the Presenting Sponsor of Toronto Taste for the Second Harvest food recovery network. John is also responsible for the largest land donation to Habitat for Humanity Canada by a private company. Together with his wife, Myrna Daniels, their philanthropy is valued at more than 200 MM across a myriad of organizations in Toronto, New York, New Orleans and Palm Beach, including the University of Toronto, Mount Sinai Hospital, the University Health Network, The John H Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, Tulane College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Four Arts Centre Palm Beach and most recently, The Myrna Daniels Seniors Emergency Medicine Centre, the single largest donation to emergency medicine in Canada, that will elevate and transform the standard of urgent care for older adults. In 2017, John and Myrna were honored with the Outstanding Philanthropy Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals. John's reach went far beyond real estate: he was a founder of The Toronto Sun newspaper in 1971, The Cineplex Corporation in 1979 and wrote the first cheque to fund the Festival of Festivals (now the Toronto International Film Festival) in 1976. In addition to his inspiring work ethic and his formidable generosity, he loved to dance, to sing, make-up nonsense nicknames, and had a dry, cheeky sense of humour, if you were lucky enough to hear it. John is survived by Myrna Daniels, her two children Elizabeth (Billy) Finger and Paul (Marci) Finger, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and by the mother of his sons David (Kate), Mark (Andrea), Robert (Shauna), Zev, Peter (Elly), 13 grandchildren, and one great grandchild. A Memorial Service will be announced in the near future. In lieu of flowers, please donate to The Myrna Daniels Seniors Emergency Medicine Centre. This newly-established Centre will be the first of its kind globally, helping older adults receive the exceptional emergency care they deserve. Please visit uhnfoundation.ca/JohnDaniels or call 416-603-5300.