When Loren Freid lost his brother Michael Freid to cancer in 2018, he was determined to establish a personal and meaningful legacy to fulfil his sibling’s dream of becoming a full-time philanthropist.
“Michael had just retired, and he wanted to carry the success of his business into philanthropy,” says Loren Freid, describing his brother as a remarkable personality and loving uncle.
A self-made entrepreneur, Michael Freid founded a photography business that, for decades, served countless school boards and sports leagues across the Greater Toronto Area. Although Michael loved his work, he was excited to begin a new chapter.
“He was starting to look at different options, but sadly, he got pulled away from all that,” says Loren.
As Michael's executor, Freid arranged bequests to cancer treatment and research, Paralympic athletics and various Jewish-related causes, including Holocaust education at the University of Toronto, as stipulated in Michael's will.
“When your dad is a Holocaust survivor, it touches every aspect of your life,” says Freid, whose father survived Auschwitz and was liberated from Mauthausen by U.S. troops in 1945.
“My brother and I always felt a responsibility to carry forward what happened in the past.”
To honour his family’s wishes, Freid established two endowment funds through the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies, working closely with the centre’s director, Professor Anna Shternshis.
“Michael’s generous gift has allowed us to achieve crucial goals for our centre,” says Shternshis. “Our students not only receive support for their independent research but can also meet world-class speakers in this field.”
Established in 2019, the Edward and Belle Freid Memorial Annual Graduate Award in Holocaust Studies supports student success, examining lesser-known aspects of the Holocaust.
“I was very grateful to receive this award,” says master’s candidate Liz Sayers, a recent scholarship winner whose thesis looks at the lives of deaf Jews in central Europe from after the First World War to the Holocaust.
“I hope my examination of deaf Jewish culture can enrich the study of the Holocaust by highlighting the intersectional and overlapping identities of victims and survivors.”
Professor Doris Bergen, the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Chair in Holocaust Studies and Sayers’ thesis supervisor, says the impact of endowments like the one created by Michael’s gift go beyond financial support.
“Scholarships like these are deeply meaningful,” says Bergen. “Every time recipients put this scholarship on their resumes, Michael Freid’s name is there. It’s a lasting tribute that invites curiosity and keeps his memory alive.”
The Estate of Michael Freid also endows the Edward and Belle Freid Memorial Lecture Series in Holocaust Studies that sees renowned academics share their research with the U of T community.
“Overseeing my brother Michael’s bequest to Holocaust studies at Arts & Science has been extremely fulfilling,” says Freid, adding that he regularly attends the lectures and receives regular updates about scholarship recipients.
“It's difficult to describe a more rewarding experience.”
Advancing Holocaust education
Freid says taking a course on the Holocaust at U of T as an undergraduate in the early 1980s was a surreal and transformative experience.
Taught by the late Professor Emeritus Jacques Kornberg, the class gave him a deeper understanding of the devastating tragedy that shaped his family’s history and makes his collaboration with U of T’s Jewish studies program even more meaningful today.
“What’s most gratifying for me is hearing that the majority of students taking Holocaust courses aren’t Jewish,” says Freid, who earned his honours bachelor of arts in 1983 as a member of University College.
“This fulfils a personal objective of mine — something not written in the endowment agreement. It brings me great satisfaction to know we’re helping expand knowledge of the Holocaust to a more diverse group of students.”