Diamonds to receive community leadership award
Erica Branda, SFU Advancement, 778.782.3353/778.231.1274, ebranda@sfu.ca
Stuart Colcleugh, PAMR, 778.782.3219
Gordon and Leslie Diamond are the 2009 recipients of Simon Fraser University’s President’s Distinguished Community Leadership Award, which recognizes people who have made a difference in the community.
They will be honoured at a dinner on Wednesday, April 29 at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver.
The Diamonds are a successful Vancouver business family who use much of their time and good fortune to benefit numerous worthy organizations locally, nationally and internationally.
The Diamond Foundation, which they established in 1985 with Gordon’s late father, Jack Diamond, is now one of Canada’s largest family charitable organizations. It supports an extensive list of beneficiaries in B.C. and abroad, and its vision continues through the committed involvement of the couple and other family members.
Gordon is chairman of West Coast Reduction and Austeville Properties and serves on the board of the B.C. Cancer Foundation. He is a member of the Order of British Columbia and holds an honorary doctorate from SFU.
Leslie gives her time and expertise to many different organizations. She has served on the boards of the Vancouver Foundation, United Way, the YWCA and B.C. Women’s Hospital, to name a few. Most recently, she established the Leslie Diamond Women’s Heart Health Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital.
The couple’s recent gifts include donating the land for the B.C. Cancer Research building, endowing a chair in Jewish law and ethics at UBC, ongoing support for the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance, building the King David High School in Vancouver and a significant contribution to the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.
Past recipients of the President’s Distinguished Community Leadership Award include Jack and Doris Shadbolt, Michael Smith, Carol Henriquez, YWCA Vancouver and Gordon Diamond’s father, Jack Diamond.
For award dinner reservations visit: http://tinyurl.com/cymxu8.
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