$10M gift to St. Boniface Hospital Foundation — its largest ever — transformational, hospital CEO says

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Peggy

The St. Boniface Hospital Foundation says it’s gotten its largest ever gift — $10 million.

The money was left to the foundation, which is the primary fundraising organization for the Winnipeg hospital, in the will of Miriam Bergen, who died in January 2022.

Bergen was also behind the largest gift ever made to a Canadian charity by an individual. Her $500-million donation to the Winnipeg Foundation made headlines in November 2022.

Half of Bergen’s donation will be used for the hospital’s new emergency department, and the other half will go toward its cardiac services program, a Monday news release from the foundation said.

Nicole Aminot, St. Boniface Hospital’s president and CEO, described Bergen’s gift as transformational in the news release.

The St. Boniface Hospital Foundation calls Bergen “a quiet philanthropist” who supported a number of projects at the hospital in the past.

Its Bergen Cardiac Care Centre was created in 2006 with the help of a $3-million donation from her parents, Martin and Ruth Bergen.

Bergen was owner and president of Appleton Holdings, a privately held company that carries on business as Edison Properties.

Doris Gietz, Bergen’s cousin and one of three executors of the estate, said in the news release that Bergen was a private person who avoided the spotlight, but Gietz and other executors wanted to fulfil her wish to ensure the Bergen family legacy lived on after her death.