Creators, advocates among prominent names lost in 2023

By: Kevin Rollason

Manitoba lost several prominent members of — and advocates for — its arts world, judicial system, Indigenous culture, sports and business sectors and health-care system when they died in 2023. Here are but a few of those who leave lasting legacies…

Charles Huband made his mark in law and politics, but will likely be most remembered for his contribution to the arts.

Huband, who died June 14, at 91, served for 27 years on the Court of Appeal, the province’s highest court. At another point of his life, he was the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party.

However, it was as a parent, scrambling to find something for his children to be involved in after the Manitoba Theatre Centre suddenly shuttered its theatre school, where he entered another spotlight.

Huband decided to create his own theatre school and, after finding other like-minded parents, became chairman of the Manitoba Theatre Workshop in a vacant space on Princess Street.

Today, that arts organization is known as Prairie Theatre Exchange.

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Art Mauro was a lawyer by training, but a businessman, philanthropist and human rights activist at heart.

Mauro, who died Aug. 4, at 96, was an expert in transportation law before becoming president of regional airline Transair.

He was hired by Investors Group in 1976, and later became its president and chief executive officer and, even later, its chairman.

Mauro also supported his alma mater, the University of Manitoba. As a student, he was elected student council president and later served as the institution’s chancellor (1991 to 2000).

As well, Mauro donated $5 million in 2017 to help the university create a multi-disciplinary chair in human rights and social justice, as part of its master’s program in human rights. He was also founding benefactor of the Arthur V. Mauro Institute for Peace and Justice.

For his achievements, Mauro was inducted into both the Order of Canada and Order of Manitoba.

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Tragedy was at the heart of Margaret Taylor’s legacy.

Taylor’s youngest daughter, 16-year-old Sara, and two of her friends, were killed by a drunk driver in 1980.

The tragedy sparked Taylor’s activism and she created Citizens Against Drunk Driving, which through the years became MADD Canada.

Through these organizations, Taylor, who died March 18, at 89, helped toughen impaired driving laws in the province and the country.

As well, Taylor was a driving force in creating the Safe Grad program in Winnipeg.

She was honoured with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal in 2002.

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Joseph Keeper pushed for self-government to improve the economic conditions of Indigenous people.

Keeper, who died Jan. 9, at 94, was a residential school survivor who went on to serve in the Korean War, before becoming a surveyor with mining giant Inco.

He switched careers and became a community development worker, before being hired for the Northern Flood Committee, which negotiated the Northern Flood Agreement and its proposed basis of settlement.

Keeper was a founding member of both the National Indian Council, which led to the creation of the Assembly of First Nations, and the Manitoba Métis Federation. He was named the MMF’s executive director in 1969.

He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1993.

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Theatre creates magic on stage, and Danny Schur was one of its creators.

Schur, who died April 10, at 56, created three musicals, but Strike!, based on the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, was his best-known.

The play later became a movie (Stand!) and when it premièred, it was the No. 1 Canadian movie at the box office in 2019.

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Most Rev. Adam Exner led the local Catholic flock as Archbishop of Winnipeg from 1982 to 1991.

Exner, who died Sept. 5, at 94, was born and raised in Saskatchewan before being ordained as a priest in 1957. He later taught at seminaries in Alberta before becoming Bishop of Kamloops in 1974, and later the fourth Archbishop of Winnipeg. He finished his religious career as Archbishop of Vancouver.

During his time in Manitoba, he hosted Pope John Paul II in 1984, and initiated the renovations at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

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Dr. Atish Maniar helped found organizations in Manitoba to help bring Indian communities together.

Maniar, who died Feb. 15, at 96, was born in India. When he came to Winnipeg in 1964, he was one of only three South Asian doctors practicing in the Manitoba capital.

He went on to found the India Association of Manitoba, Hindu Society of Manitoba, Gujarati Cultural Society of Manitoba, and Manitoba Hindu Seniors Inc. He also became a Hindu priest.

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Shirley Richardson’s largest legacy is inside the Leaf.

Richardson, who died March 11, at 98, was married to James Armstrong Richardson (1922-2004), a former federal MP and cabinet minister.

She later was on the Middlechurch Nursing Home board of directors and supported several arts organizations — but Richardson’s dream was for Winnipeggers to have a butterfly garden to enjoy.

She and her adult children donated to help set up a temporary butterfly garden at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

It was so successful an attraction, the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden was later installed inside the Leaf horticultural attraction, which opened in 2022.

She created an endowment fund to help make the facility’s programs more financially accessible to students, newcomers and senior groups.

Richardson was inducted into the Order of Manitoba in 2022.

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Marcel Desautels graduated from university and he gave back to universities.

Desautels, who died Jan. 31, at 88, graduated with his master’s degree in law from the University of Manitoba before being hired by the federal Treasury Board. He later became president of Creditel of Canada, the country’s largest commercial credit reporting company.

Through the years, Desautels is credited with donating more than $100 million to universities across the country, including $20 million to the U of M faculty of music, $10 million to kick-start the construction of the institution’s Desautels Concert Hall, and the main donor and president of a $15-million fundraising campaign at St. Boniface University.

He was inducted into the Orders of Canada, Manitoba and Ontario.

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Harvey Pollock was known for his legal prowess — and his whistling.

Pollock, who died Feb. 5, at 89, championed the legal rights of Indigenous peoples for decades. He represented the family of J.J. Harper in the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. He was appointed what was then-called a Queen’s Counsel in 1970.

Pollock began whistling as a child. In 1977, he won the inaugural World Whistling Championship. He later put out an album, The Whistling Lawyer.

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Lois Fowler was a champion curler.

Fowler, who died Sept. 28, at 68, was a four-time Manitoba women’s curling champion and a world senior women’s champion.

She was inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame in 2003.

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Dr. Dick Smith was one of the first Winnipeg physicians to treat LGBTTQ+ patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

Smith, who died Nov. 7, at 80, went on to help found the Village Clinic (which became the Nine Circles Community Health Centre) and Our Own Health Centre to help treat members of the LGBTTQ+ community.

He was inducted into the Order of Manitoba in summer 2023.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca