These stars shone their last in 2025

Education, politics, the arts, the city as a whole was made better by their contributions

By: Kevin Rollason

Three former teachers turned politicians, a movie-production magnet, a hotelier, a seniors advocate and a restaurant critic are among the prominent Manitobans who died in 2025.

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Jake Epp was a high school teacher before entering politics.

Epp, who was 85 when he died on July 5, was teaching history in Steinbach before throwing his hat into politics.

He was first elected as a city councillor in Steinbach before being elected the Progressive Conservative MP for Provencher in 1972. During the Mulroney government he was appointed health minister, minister of Indian affairs and northern development and energy minister — the first Mennonite in the federal cabinet. Epp, as health minister, was instrumental in Winnipeg becoming the site of the country’s first Level 4 Containment Laboratory, while also initiating anti-smoking legislation, including no smoking during air flights.

After retiring from politics in 1993, Epp served as chairman of Health Partners International of Canada, was senior vice-president of TransCanada Pipelines, was appointed board chairman of Ontario Power Generation and was named chancellor of Tyndale University in Toronto.

Epp was named an Officer in the Order of Canada in 2010.

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Gérard Lécuyer was a teacher who fought for French-language education.

Lécuyer, who was 88 when he died on July 9, taught in the St. Boniface School Division before he and his young family went to Sierra Leone and then Algeria with the federal external affairs department. Back in Canada, he began working in what’s now called the Bureau de l’éducation française in 1975.

Six years later, Lécuyer was elected NDP MLA for Radisson in 1981 and served as minister of environment and workplace safety and health in the Pawley government.

After politics, Lécuyer became executive director of the Fédération provinciale des comites de parents du Manitoba, with his advocacy leading to a landmark Supreme Court ruling in favour of French-language education in 1993 and resulting in, a year later, the creation of Division scolaire franco-manitobaine, the province’s French-language school division.

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Nello Altomare was a longtime teacher and principal before overseeing the province’s educational system.

Altomare, who was 61 when he died on Jan. 14, was a teacher in the Transcona Springfield School Division and then a vice-principal and principal in the River East Transcona School Division.

He was elected as an NDP MLA in Transcona in 2019 and was appointed education minister when the party was elected to government in 2023.

“Working side by side with Nello, to help Manitoba kids, was one of the greatest times of my life,” Premier Wab Kinew said in a statement at the time of Altomare’s death.

The government has since enshrined into law Altomare’s permanent universal school nutrition program, now known as Nello’s Law.

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Without Carole Vivier, Manitoba’s motion picture landscape in recent decades would have been less kinetic.

Vivier, who died on March 4 at 73, was CEO and film commissioner at Manitoba Film and Music for almost three decades. During her time at the helm, the province’s film production soared from $12 million in the early 1990s to more than $269 million when she retired in 2019. She also successfully lobbied for the creation of the first film tax credit in Western Canada.

Some of the productions during that time included the Oscar-winning Capote, as well as Shall We Dance? and A Dog’s Purpose.

“Carole is the reason we have a film industry in Manitoba, and it’s a strong sector cherished by the provincial government no matter who is in power,” said filmmaker Guy Maddin at the time of her death.

Vivier received the Order of Manitoba in 2014 and the Order of Canada in 2024.

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Marion Warhaft’s pen was as mighty as her knife and fork.

For decades, Warhaft’s weekly restaurant review columns — called Dining Out — were known to make or break an establishment. A favourable review? You likely wouldn’t be able to get a reservation that weekend and some restaurants would be so overwhelmed they would run out of the dishes she’d raved about.

“She understood that her loyalty was to the reader of the paper, not to the dining industry,” said Morley Walker, her editor at the Free Press from 1988 to 1997.

In the early days of Warhaft’s marriage, she lived in Paris and travelled through Europe, always dining at Michelin Guide-reviewed restaurants. After her husband died suddenly in 1976, she applied to be the Free Press’s food critic and ended up writing her column for 37 years.

Warhaft’s last column was in 2015; she died on Feb. 28. Fittingly, as a reviewer who valued her anonymity while dining at restaurants, Warhaft’s obituary photo features her wearing giant sunglasses.

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Charlie Mayer was a farmer when elected Tory MP for Portage-Marquette in 1979.

Mayer, who was 89 when he died on April 29, went on to be re-elected three times, was in several positions, including agriculture minister in the Mulroney and Campbell governments, and advocated for farmers.

While serving in government, Mayer urged Mulroney to convince other G7 leaders at the 1986 summit to add agriculture in upcoming GATT negotiations. They did and it led to a cap on agricultural subsidies, giving greater access to world markets for Canadian farmers.

He was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2005.

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Yhetta Gold spent her life advocating for equality.

Gold, who died on April 25 at the age of 95, was executive director at several organizations, including the Volunteer Centre of Winnipeg, Age and Opportunity Centre and Klinic. She also served as president of others, including the Manitoba branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada — she was diagnosed with the disease when she was 30 — as well as the Gas Station Theatre and Creative Retirement Winnipeg.

She was known as an innovative visionary in modern gerontology, advocating for home care as an alternative to hospitalization, and encouraging community-based support networks, including non-profit housing, for seniors.

Gold was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1995.

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Leo Ledohowski helped shape the province’s hospitality sector.

Ledohowski, who was 81 when he died on Aug. 5, was a finance and economics professor at Carleton University before returning to his home province to teach at the University of Manitoba and enter the hotel business.

He dropped teaching and went full time into hotels in 1975, creating Ledohowski Hotels, then the Hospitality Corporation of Manitoba and then Canad Inns.

“He really thought of his industry, that accommodation industry, as being more than just a place to stay — it was really about being a destination and being a hub for the community,” said Business Council of Manitoba president and CEO Bram Strain.

Ledohowski was inducted into the Order of Manitoba in 2022.

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Paulette Duguay was a leader in the Métis and French-Canadian communities.

Duguay, who was 70 when she died on Aug. 17, was president of l’Union nationale métisse Saint-Joseph du Manitoba from 2014 to 2024.

Her great-grandmother Eulalie was Louis Riel’s sister, and she was a strong advocate for the Métis francophone community, working for the preservation of Métis, francophone and French-Canadian heritage, as well as Métis culture and reconciliation.

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Stephanie Ballard left her legacy in dance.

Ballard, who was 76 when she died on Sept. 21, was born in San Francisco and came to Winnipeg in 1972 to join Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers as an apprentice, then company member, associate artistic director and artist in residence.

As a choreographer, Ballard created a massive body of work still being performed today; she also worked at the School of Contemporary Dancers.

Toronto Star dance critic Michael Crabb said, “Stephanie could have built a career anywhere she chose, but the personal bonds she forged in Winnipeg were something she valued deeply… and so she stayed; a gain for her and for the city she came to love.”

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Ian Ross was an award-winning playwright.

Ross, who was 57 when he died on Nov. 18, was the first First Nations person to receive the Governor General’s Award for English Drama in 1997 for fareWel, his first professional production.

He went on to create, write and voice Joe from Winnipeg on CBC Radio, later compiling the work onto a CD and three books, and served as an educator with the collective Red Roots Theatre.

Ross wrote for film, television and radio, but also continued to create plays including The Illustrated History of the Anishinabe, The Gap and Baloney!

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Jim Bear was a longtime leader of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.

Bear, who died on Aug. 27 at 79, was a residential school survivor who went on to serve 11 terms as a councillor and chief of the community.

He was also involved in the Southeast Personal Care Home, Bruce Oake Recovery Centre and Collaborative Leadership Initiative, and helped establish the South Beach Casino.

Bear was also a co-founder of the Southeast Tribal Council.

For his community service, he received numerous honours, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee and Platinum Jubilee medals, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Community Champion Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Treaty One Nations.

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Marion Lewis helped to save the lives of babies.

Lewis, who was 100 when she died on Oct. 18, was fresh out of high school when she got a job as a medical technician at the Winnipeg General Hospital in 1943. She joined the Rh Laboratory the next year and, under pediatric pathologist Bruce Chown, assisted in the work to eradicate Rh disease.

Their research led to a vaccine to prevent Rh disease and she later went on to work in human genetics and gene-mapping.

Lewis was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2019.

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Rita Menzies didn’t wield a baton, but she was a leader of orchestras.

Menzies, who was 83 when she died on June 19, was general manager of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra from 1978 to her retirement in 2003, before being tapped by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for a year as interim operations manage and executive director.

She also served as festival director of the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival for 11 years and was president of its board until her death.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca