TORONTO – Murray Frum, a celebrated patron of Toronto’s art community, has passed away at the age of 81 from lung cancer.
Around 11 p.m. Monday, his son, political writer and author David Frum announced his father’s passing in an obituary posted to The Daily Beast.
“Through his lifetime of 81 years, my father’s extraordinary sureness became a rock upon which everyone who knew him rested and trusted.
That rock cracked Monday, May 27, at a little past six o’clock in the evening. After a struggle of a little less than seven weeks, my father – a lifelong non-smoker – died of metastatic lung cancer,” he wrote.
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A successful Toronto businessman and philanthropist, Murray Frum made significant donations to the Art Gallery of Ontario.
He was married to CBC journalist Barbara Frum until her death from chronic leukemia in 1992, later remarrying to Nancy Lockhart in 1994.
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His son described how the elder Frum would embark on “art-sleuthing” expeditions, the resulting acquisitions ending up donated to the AGO. One of his more recent finds, a Baroque bronze sculpture by famous Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is currently prominently displayed in the AGO.
He says that an April expedition to Florence was cut short by a pain in his father’s leg, which would later reveal itself to be the cancer that ultimately claimed his life.
A public memorial for Murray Frum will be held in Toronto, the details of which are forthcoming.
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