Re: Thomas Foster-mayor of Toronto 1945 ?
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In reply to:
Thomas Foster-mayor of Toronto 1945 ?
6/10/01
Eccentric mayor was honest and rich
Tom Foster left huge monetary legacy to Toronto
Hospitals, school children still benefit from will
GEORGE GAMESTER
Okay, this may be a little hard to explain. But here's what happened:
Now that the Mel Lastman era is drawing to a close, we were thinking about another colourful Toronto mayor, when suddenly ...
This unearthly voice floated into our head:
"Aaay, YOU!" it rasped. "About time somebody remembered me."
M-m-mister Foster?"
"Uh-huh, you got it. Honest Tom here. Direct from my tomb near Uxbridge. Listen, I got a job for you."
B-b-but Your Honour, you've been ...
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Dead for 58 years. I'm a little out of touch. So here's what I want you to do: FIND OUT WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH MY MONEY!"
Well! Who could resist an assignment like that? We got right on it, and now we're ready to deliver our report.
But first, maybe we should explain just who this Foster character was, er, is. As we were saying, he's a former Toronto politician who served as alderman, MP and mayor.
And the mere fact that he's been deceased since 1945 hasn't stopped him from reaching out from his grandiose $3 million mausoleum to continue helping the citizenry.
You see, though few remember him today, ol' Tom is responsible for a whole range of philanthropic activities, including:
Planting trees to beautify our city; bankrolling an annual picnic for Toronto schoolchildren; comforting patients in several hospitals; financing cancer research and feeding noisy ducks along the waterfront.
Whew! Pretty impressive for a Cabbagetown kid who picked up that "Honest Tom" moniker as proprietor of the city's busiest butcher shop before becoming mayor in the mid-1920s.
In office, he was nothing like our free-spending politicos of today. No siree. He was a tightwad who built a reputation as a vigilant financial watchdog.
For example, when the police department wanted to hire more cops, Honest Tom suggested it would be cheaper to reimburse robbery victims out of the public coffers. He was thrifty in his personal life, too — never buying more than a half-pound of butter at a time, to avoid wastage.
Mind you, our hero could let himself go at times. Like in 1927, when he flew over the city, showering the populace with dollar bills attached to Union Jacks.
But despite such largesse, Tom was bounced from office the following year by Fightin' Sam McBride. Oh, well, he was 78 after all, a widower who'd lost his only child at age 10. Time, you'd think, to fade away.
Ha! Not so fast. Thanks to his real estate holdings, Tom still had big bucks and grand plans for world travel.
And of all the sights he saw, you know what really knocked him out? The Taj Mahal. He was so impressed, he decided to build one for himself.
Hiring top-flight architects and importing the finest Italian marble for the ornate floors, stately columns, three crypts and a pulpit, he erected a 20-metre high, $250,000 Byzantine tomb overlooking the rolling Ontario countryside 70 kilometres northeast of Toronto.
(Valued at more than $3 million today, it's still quite a sight. For information on visits and tours, check out http://www.uxbridge.com/people/tfoster.htmlhttp://www.uxbridge.com/people/tfoster.html or call Bev Northeast at 905-640-3966).
When the Thomas Foster Memorial Temple was unveiled in 1935, seven clerics presided over the ceremony. A decade later, Tom joined his wife and daughter there in eternal rest.
Until his will was opened, which is where the fun began.
In death, Tom became famous again, thanks to one of the most unusual, imaginative and generous final testaments in Canadian history.
Which brings us to that eerie voice we heard the other night, demanding a financial update. Are you listening, Tom? Here goes ...
First, the good news. After the $185,000 you gave in $5,000 sums to each of 37 relatives, most of the $1,168,555 you left in trust to brighten our lives remains intact.
The bad news is that the world has changed so much that some of your financial honey pots have dried up or are being used in ways you couldn't have envisioned.
------------------------------------------------------------" When a storm strikes, we're ready. We sure appreciate what Mr. Foster has done for us."
Bud Walters, Humane society volunteer
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For instance, your bequests to impoverished charwomen are gone. Which is okay, because we thankfully don't have a lot of women on their hands and knees scrubbing office floors any more.
And ditto for your Newsboy's Welfare Fund, because it's been a long while since we had guys yelling "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" on street corners.
Same for your "baby derbies." Sure, they were headline grabbers, with cash prizes going to the Toronto women giving birth to the greatest number of children in four 10-year periods. (Not to be confused with the richer, better-known Stork Derby financed by Toronto lawyer Charles Vance Millar in the 1930s).
But when your last child-begetting contest ended in 1964, nobody seemed to miss them. We tracked down one of the winners, who'd received $1,250 for having nine children in 11 years. She didn't want to talk about it.
However, the $3,500 flagpole you bestowed on Central Technical School still stands proudly.
So does most of the Thomas Foster Trust. The people over at TD Canada Trust who keep the books tell us there's still close to $1 million in the kitty.
But of the 17 smaller trusts you funded, several were transferred (with court approval) directly to various charities to prevent them being eaten up by taxes and administrative fees.
Among these is the $11,000 you left to cheer up patients at a Parkdale institution known in your day as the Hospital for Incurables.
We're happy to report the interest from that money is still being used at the Toronto Rehabilitation Foundation's 300-bed Queen Elizabeth Centre on Dunn Ave. to provide musical variety shows, summer barbecues and other "entertainments" for patients.
And your endowment for feeding waterfowl? The Toronto Humane Society has used that windfall to set up a $6,000 Tom Foster Wild Bird Fund, a.k.a. "Bucks for Ducks."
"These recent mild winters make it easier for the birds," notes 78-year-old humane society volunteer Bud Walters. "But when a storm strikes, we're ready. We sure appreciate what Mr. Foster has done for us."
And so does John Maffei of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He has 22,000 Foster dollars to be used toward uniforms for volunteer deputy conservation officers.
Originally, that money had been earmarked for the apprehension of poachers around T.O. But let's face it, Tom. Not many deer are being shot out-of-season in Don Mills these days.
Mind you, we still have plenty of trees, which explains why Toronto's official forester, Richard Ubbens, remains one of your biggest fans. That $100,000 you left for the planting of trees to landscape major roads approaching the city has been well-spent for many years.
Generations of Toronto schoolchildren thank you, too. Because the $100,000 fund you set aside for their annual free picnic is still generating joy.
Yes, of all your eccentric endeavours, that June kiddie blowout is probably the best-remembered. And the guy who sets it up in various city parks for the TD Canada Trust volunteers who staff it every year has special reason to remember you.
For back in 1970, when he was in Grade 6 at Pape Avenue Public School, Jaimie McCaig of the city parks and recreation department was the proud recipient of one of your $20 `citizenship awards' still bestowed on 50 Toronto pupils every year, thanks to the $18,000 Thomas Foster Scholarship Fund.
So you see, Tom, your generosity is still benefiting your city, and, someday, perhaps the whole world.
Because we haven't mentioned your greatest gift of all: A medical fund, which since 1946 has generated more than $750,000 for cancer research at the University of Toronto.
At present, the income from the more than $600,000 you left in trust is being used to pay summer students assisting research scientists with cancer-related lab work and other projects.
How long will your personal war on cancer continue? As you put it back in 1945: "Until such time as the problem of cancer has been solved."
So there you go. A remarkable legacy that shouldn't be forgotten.
Thanks, Honest Tom. (There is a picture of Thomas Foster with this article)
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Re: Thomas Foster-mayor of Toronto 1945 ?
donna 1/21/03