Proudly Honouring My Late Brother's Philanthropic Legacy

My brother, Michael, passed away in January, 2018 following a tumultuous and courageous battle against cancer.? Michael, imbued with an emphatic larger-than-life personality, was a successful entrepreneur who was set to begin a new phase in his life.? With great enthusiasm, he was looking forward to becoming a full-time philanthropist.? Instead, his time and focus in his remaining years were forcibly and entirely consumed by his fight against cancer.

In his will, Michael highlighted a number of generous bequests to hospitals for cancer treatment and research, to organizations supporting Paralympic athletes as well as to various Jewish-related causes.? In particular, to honour our dad, a concentration camp survivor interned at Auschwitz and later liberated by the American army from Mauthausen in May, 1945, Michael left a sizable bequest for the pursuit of enhanced Holocaust education at the University of Toronto.? Michael named me the Executor of his will.? In doing so, he was entrusting me with the responsibility of ensuring that his philanthropic objectives would be met to his satisfaction.?? This was a task that I was (and am) proud to undertake.?

To begin the process of meeting Michael’s objective to enhance Holocaust education, I met with Anna Shternshis , the Director of the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies (ATCJS) at the University of Toronto in 2019.? (Anna is on the right side of the photograph shown above. On the left side is Doris Bergen , Chancellor, Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies. The photograph was taken on December 9, 2024 at the ATCJS Hanukkah party.)

The ATCJS is one of the most comprehensive Jewish Studies programs in North America. The ATCJS offers courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in archeology, art, history, languages, literature, performance, philosophy, political science, religion, and sociology. ?It collaborates with a number of academic units at the undergraduate and graduate levels, giving students the opportunity to take courses offered by more than 20 different departments, centres, and programs at the University of Toronto.?In addition to its academic offerings, the ATCJS offers engaging and innovative programming in the form of lectures, panels, conferences, and performances about an array of Jewish Studies.

Anna was extremely receptive and arranged a matching gift to equal Michael’s bequest thereby maximizing its learning potential. Together, we formulated a plan to enhance Holocaust education within the ATCJS through the creation of two endowment funds in perpetuity.? One of the funds was allocated to the creation of an award that would support graduate student research in the area of Holocaust studies.? Named after our parents, it is titled “The Edward and Belle Freid Memorial Annual Graduate Award in Holocaust studies.”? The second fund was endowed to create an annual lecture in Holocaust studies.? It is titled “The Edward and Belle Freid Memorial Annual Lecture in Holocaust Studies.”?

Since their creation, the two endowment funds have led to some extraordinary perspectives and learnings in Holocaust studies.? The creation of the graduate student award led to studies of such wide-ranging and diverse topics as: i) the legal aspect of the Holocaust and the role of civil servants in anti-Jewish legislation;? and ii) India and the Holocaust, such as what was the Indian political leadership’s stance regarding Nazi Germany and Jewish refugees?? Both of these topics were brought forward by a first year PhD student from India.? ?The Memorial Lecture series has brought in such acclaimed scholars as: i) Anna Hajkova, from the University of Warwick, whose presentation was titled “The Last Ghetto:? An Everyday History of Theresienstadt”; and ii) Marc Baer, from the London School of Economics, whose subject was “German, Jew, Muslim, Gay: The Life and Times of Hugo Marcus.” Hugo Marcus (1880–1966) was born a German Jew who converted to Islam and took the name Hamid, becoming one of the most prominent Muslims in Germany prior to World War II.?

As the son of a Holocaust survivor, it is safe to say that the Holocaust was part of my internal DNA. As result, I confidently felt I had a unique personal attachment and solid intellectual knowledge of it. That said, in the five years following the implementation of Michael's bequest, I can say without any doubt whatsoever, that his contribution to the ATCJS has led to the creation and exchange of ideas and perspectives that I could not have ever imagined!

Through my brother's generous gift, “The Estate of Michael Freid” is permanently enshrined and displayed within the “Friends Circle” level of giving at the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto.???

I hope that collectively Anna, the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto, its students and I have all done Michael proud. ?G-d bless you, brother.

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

University of Toronto Faculty of Arts & Science