‘It was my responsibility’: Local developer gives millions to Durham institutions

A Durham-based developer is being celebrated for his unprecedented generosity to some of the biggest institutions in his community.

Politicians from across the region, as well as his family and friends, came together Thursday to honour Jerry Coughlan, the founder of Coughlan Homes, who has donated millions of dollars to Lakeridge Health, The Salvation Army, and most recently, the Grandview Children’s Centre.

“Do you know the impact that your generosity has brought this community?” Oshawa regional councillor Dan Carter asked Coughlan during his speech. “Great givers don’t stand around waiting for applause. They just do.”

The heads of the three organizations Coughlan donated to, including the executive director of Grandview, also came to the celebration at a model Coughlan home in Ajax, Ont. Coughlan donated $5 million to go toward the new Grandview location in Ajax, which will be named in his honour.

“A donation of a few dollars from a child at a lemonade stand, for example, is deeply meaningful to us, as is Jerry’s gift,” said Lorraine Sunstrum-Mann. “But the size is just incredible and we were just so thrilled to know that we would be able, in fact, to achieve our dream of a new Grandview because of his gift.”

“I’m very proud,” said Coughlan while at his Ajax home. “I’m glad I donated the money… and it’s nice to have it in my name.”

The current Grandview facility in Oshawa, Ont., has been struggling to shorten its waitlist of more than 3,000 children with special needs who need therapy and care, and Sunstrum-Mann says his donation will go toward serving more children.

“I thought it was my responsibility or the thing to do to give back to the community in which I made the money,” said Coughlan.

He has since built an empire in Durham Region with his company, but not without sharing what he has made.

To help more people in the community, Coughlan donated $2 million in 2015 to build an entirely new and larger Salvation Army building in Ajax. Jason Sabourin, the captain of the location serving Ajax, Pickering, and Uxbridge, says the old space was 1,200 square feet but that has been demolished to make way for the new one, which will be approximately 20,000 sq. ft. He says this will allow his team to provide better programming, including recreational activities.

“This building’s going to be around for a long time, so Jerry’s legacy will stretch far into the future,” Sabourin said.

In 2016, Coughlan gifted $1 million to Lakeridge Health, which the president and CEO of the company, Matthew Anderson, says is going toward the Ajax Pickering Hospital’s shoulder clinic.

“For our staff, when they see somebody like Jerry Coughlan saying that… he believes in us, that he believes in investing in us, that has immeasurable impact on the pride of the staff, the services that we’re able to provide and their commitment to our community,” said Anderson.

The developer says he would like to continue to give to his community, but he’d like to do so anonymously. When asked why he would like to withhold his name, he said, “I would think that it would suggest I was bragging or something, and that’s not me.”