Tag Archives: Toronto Raptors

Jew of the Week: Larry Tanenbaum

Owner of the Toronto Raptors and Maple Leafs

Lawrence M. Tanenbaum (b. 1945) was born in Toronto, the grandson of religious Polish-Jewish immigrants. His father was a real estate tycoon and the founder and owner of York Steel Construction. Tanenbaum studied economics at Cornell University, where he managed the school’s hockey team. Upon graduating, he became the general manager of Kilmer Van Nostrand, a construction company that his father had recently bought out. Tanenbaum expanded the company rapidly. Among their many projects across the Americas are the Toronto, Atlanta, Miami, and Calgary train and subway networks. After a merger with another company in 1984, Tanenbaum became the CEO of Canada’s largest road paving company. Meanwhile, he created two new subdivisions for Kilmer: its Developments wing which is a leading Canadian real estate firm, and Kilmer Sports, for which Tanenbaum is most famous. Kilmer Sports has a 25% share of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment Ltd., and Tanenbaum is the chairman of both the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team and the Toronto Raptors basketball team. The former is among the most valuable sports clubs in the world, while the latter won the NBA Championship last week for the first time in its history. In fact, Tanenbaum played an instrumental role in bringing a professional basketball team to Toronto. Although he lobbied the NBA for years, the contract was ultimately awarded to another businessman. Undeterred, Tanenbaum vowed to buy it out, and did so in 1998 with the team having struggled tremendously in its first years. Tanenbaum quickly turned its fortunes around (together with Vince Carter, who was drafted that same year.) Tanenbaum is a big sports fan himself, and goes to as many Leafs and Raptors games as he can. MLSE also owns the Toronto Argonauts, Toronto FC, and two more teams, making it Canada’s largest sports company, and one of the largest in the world. Last year, Tanenbaum (with a partner) bought the rights to bottle and distribute Coca-Cola in Canada. Tanenbaum and his family are huge philanthropists, donating countless millions to schools, hospitals, and charities. Among his largest donations are $60 million to Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, $20 million to Montreal’s Neurological Institute and Hospital, $5 million to the University of Toronto, and $50 million to the UJA. He is a co-founder of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. Tanenbaum was awarded the Order of Canada in 2007. He plans to take the Toronto Raptors on an all-expenses paid trip to Israel as a victory present.

Words of the Week

Five thousand years of continuous history of the Jewish people have built an ethic. And the ethic has been built around family, the importance of learning and good behaviour. You build on those tenets. You never stop learning, whether that’s reading the Bible, the Talmud, the New Yorker or Engineering News Record. And ethical behaviour is about conducting your relationships on an ethical basis. You’re honest with people.

– Larry Tanenbaum

Jew of the Week: Drake

Drake, in one of his music videos

Drake sporting a kippah and tallit in one of his music videos

Aubrey Drake Graham (b. 1986) was born in Toronto to a Jewish-Canadian mother and an African-American father from Tennessee. His parents divorced when he was 5 so Drake was raised by his mother in Toronto’s predominantly Jewish area of Forest Hills. It was in high school that Drake began to act, and at age 15 landed a role on the teen show Degrassi: The Next Generation, thanks to his friend’s father who was an agent. He appeared in 138 episodes until his character “graduated” off the show in 2009. Meanwhile, Drake was recording various rap mixtapes, one of which got in the hands of Lil Wayne, who later invited Drake to tour with him and record a few songs. In 2009, Drake released his third mixtape, So Far Gone, for free download on his blog. It would find huge success and was called the ‘Hottest Mixtape of 2009’ by MTV. Drake became only the second artist in history to have two of his songs in the Billboard top ten within the same week. Later in the year, he was finally signed to a major label. Since then, Drake has released three successful albums, working alongside Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rihanna, Eminem, Timbaland and many others, as well as writing songs for Dr. Dre, Jamie Foxx and Alicia Keys. He has won a Grammy and three Junos, and holds the record for having the most number-one singles of any rapper. Drake has also become famous for proudly displaying his Jewish and Torontonian roots, particularly in his videos. Most recently, Drake became the global ambassador for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and a consultant for their 20th anniversary re-branding.

Words of the Week

When one looks truly at the good side of everyone, others come to love him very naturally, and he does not need even a speck of flattery.
– Rabbi Avraham Itzhak Kook