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Woman Leaves Millions To UBC, SFU Five universities to get a share of her $28.8-million estate Neal Hall and Doug Ward Vancouver Sun A wealthy Vancouver woman who died earlier this year has left more than $21 million to five Canadian universities, including Simon Fraser University and the University of B.C. Florence May Foreman lived a quiet, largely anonymous life in the same apartment in Vancouver's West End for more than 30 years before she died March 24 at the age of 88. The gross value of her estate was $28.8 million, most of it invested in government treasury bills and fixed-income bonds. She also held shares in three Canadian banks. Born on a Saskatchewan farm, Foreman had never worked. She inherited her fortune from her parents and a sister who had predeceased her. Although a philanthropist for much of her later life, she usually made anonymous donations because she disliked any public attention. Her will specified that 75 per cent -- $21.5 million -- was to be split into equal one-fifth shares for SFU, UBC, the University of Saskatchewan, Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, and the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University. "There are no strings attached," Foreman's cousin, Harry Smith of West Vancouver, said Wednesday of the $4.3 million bequests to each university. The universities can decide how they want to allocate the money, he said, but they were told that one of Foreman's primary interests was research, particularly in the health field. The universities were thrilled by Foreman's philanthropy. "It's the single largest bequest we've had to date," said Kathryn Aberle, director of media and public relations at SFU. "It was a delightful surprise to us." Foreman had made donations to SFU over the years "but there was nothing to indicate that this was coming our way," she added. No decision has been made about how the $4.3 million will be used, Aberle said. The SFU spokesman said the estate's executor made it clear to the university that Foreman did not want to become the subject of media attention. "She would have preferred that the publicity be about how the money is used," she said. Foreman lived in a 1950s style high-rise condominium on Chilco Street, just above Lost Lagoon. Her next-door neighbour, Ken Dutton, described her as a very private person. "She preferred to be anonymous," said Dutton. He added he knew Foreman well but didn't want to discuss her publicly. "She's told me her stories but I won't repeat them. She was a lady as far as I was concerned and she deserved a private life." Foreman gave very generously to many charities during her lifetime but most of her donations were made anonymously, explained Smith. "She avoided publicity," he said of his cousin, whom he described as a world traveller who loved music. "She was a very caring and quiet person who liked to do things without any fuss," Smith said from his cottage in Quebec. "She was one of those people who never said a bad word about anybody. "She was a very social person who had a wonderful passion for life," added Smith, executor of his cousin's will. He was left 25 per cent of Foreman's estate. He said his cousin never married. Neither did her only sister, Phyllis Foreman, who lived with her sister until she died about 20 years ago. Their parents, Douglas and May Foreman, died in the 1960s. Florence Foreman was born in Swift Current, Sask., on a sprawling wheat farm owned by her parents, who had lived in Montebello, Quebec before deciding to head west, seeking adventure. The Foremans had "old money" from lumber and food-distribution interests in Quebec, Smith said. They were also fortunate in that they invested wisely, he added. Smith said his cousin's philanthropic nature was fostered while growing up on a farm during the Depression years, when the family helped less-well-off neighbours. "In Saskatchewan, they were quite a bit wealthier than the people around them, and that made her uncomfortable," Smith said. "Florence didn't like it when her father bought a new car or some other sign of affluence." By the mid-1940s, the family was dividing their time between the wheat farm and a winter home on the West Coast. Smith said Foreman decided to leave the large bequests to universities in the three provinces where her family had lived and made their fortune. Foreman's mother suffered from Alzheimer's disease and her sister died of Parkinson's disease, which helps explain her contribution to medical research at the Montreal Neurological Institute. "We are both honoured and humbled by the extraordinary example of Miss Foreman's philanthropy in support of research in the neurosciences," said Dr. David Colman, director of the Montreal Neurological Institute. "Her commitment to discovering the causes and alleviating the suffering of neurological diseases and disorders is a great source of inspiration for us at the MNI." Pam McPhail, director of development at Bishop's University, said the $4.3 million donation is the largest in the university's 160-year history, topping a 1999 gift of $3.7 million from alumnus Richard Tomlinson and a $3-million donation from David Williams in 1996. The Foreman bequest will be added to the Bishop's University Foundation, bringing the endowment fund to $25 million. Foreman also left $75,000 to a friend, Darlene Grace Hartness of Lacadena, Saskatchewan. SOURCE: The Vancouver Sun, Canada http://tinyurl.com/opyc * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn