Yehuda Edwin Mirvish, or Honest Ed as he would later be famously known in Toronto, was a businessman and philanthropist whose impact continues to be felt in his adopted city, years after his passing.

Born in 1914 in Virginia to a Lithuanian Jewish father and an Austrian Jewish mother, he moved to Toronto in 1923 where the entrepreneurial spirit that defined the rest of his life would be developed.

His retail discount emporium, “Honest Ed’s” opened in 1948 and quickly became a landmark in Toronto, while the man himself would become an icon in the city, known for his generosity: giving away free turkeys at Christmas and his 7-hour long birthday parties outside his store.

Mirvish would later become one of Canada’s most influential philanthropists. In 1963, he purchased the Royal Alexandra, the country’s oldest theatre and now a site of national historic value. His investment in the theatre means it is still active today. This philanthropic act saw Mirvish receive the Order of Canada, initially as a Member and later as an Officer.

Mirvish Productions was formed in 1986, and Ed, together with his son David, turned Toronto into one of North America’s leading theatre destinations. Ed’s generosity was not limited to Canada, as he invested more than $5 million into saving London’s Old Vic theatre, an act which won him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989.

Ed passed away in 2007 at the age of 92. A name synonymous with the arts in Canada, his lasting legacy remains one of generosity.

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