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Governors’ Banquet 2010 honours Dr. Don Rix, RBC Royal Bank and celebrates ‘The Jimmy Factor’
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
By Terry Hadley
Venue: The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
Presenting sponsors: Canaccord Financial Inc.; LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services
Reception sponsor: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Platinum sponsor: Teck Resources Ltd.
Platinum sponsors (in kind): The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver; The Vancouver Sun; The Province
Gold sponsors: CN; KPMG; HSBC Bank Canada
LOT/CYP Program sponsor: Kingswood Properties Ltd.
Silver sponsors: Coast Capital Savings; London Drugs; New Car Dealers Association of BC; Rogers Communications Group; WirelessWave
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| Laurie Rix Macrae, chair of the Rix Family Foundation and emcee for the evening, Pamela Martin. All photos: D.Roels |
The late Dr. Don Rix, CM, OBC became the first Vancouver Board of Trade chairman to be inducted into the Council of Governors posthumously at the annual Governors’ Banquet and Rix Center Awards 2010 on Wednesday, April 7, 2010.
His daughter, Laurie Rix Macrae, chair of the Rix Family Foundation, received a scroll, a commemorative album of his year as Board of Trade chairman 2008-09, and a gift of gold earrings and pin engraved with the Rix Center for Corporate Citizenship & Engaged Leadership emblem. Rix Macrae was also invested as an Honorary Fellow of the Rix Center.
Pamela Martin, CTV News at Six anchor and Frank S. Borowicz, QC, governor, The Board of Trade, were Masters of Ceremonies.
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| Jimmy Pattison, OC, OBC. See Photo: D.Roels |
“This means a lot to my family,” said Rix Macrae during the sold-out gala event billed as A Salute to Community Health and Well-Being. She said her father had been thrilled to be the first medical doctor to be inducted as Board of Trade chairman. “That was the thing about my Dad – he loved to be first,” she said.
Rix Macrae said founding the Rix Center had been an important milestone to her father. “He took personal satisfaction that his passion for corporate engagement would live on through the Rix Center... He was an incredible father but his values will live on through The Board of Trade and the Rix Center,” she said.
Governor David McLean, OBC, chair, the Rix Center, presented the Rix Center Awards. The five nominees for the Engaged Corporate Citizenship Award 2010, adjudicated by the Sauder School of Business on behalf of The Board of Trade, were BC Hydro (nominated by Vancouver Whitecaps FC); London Drugs (nominated by British Columbia Institute of Technology Foundation); Scotiabank (nominated by St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation); Teck Resources Ltd (nominated by VANOC) and the winners, RBC Royal Bank (nominated by YWCA Vancouver).
Jimmy Pattison, OC, OBC was awarded the Engaged Community Citizenship Award 2010. McLean read out a tribute from Peter Brown, chair, Canaccord Financial Inc., who said Pattison is an “exemplary character” who is “singularly unafraid of the truth” and is accessible to everyone. “There is no other billionaire I know who can be called Jimmy,” he said, adding that his involvement in Expo ’86 working 16-hour days was the “most outstanding role in community service I have ever seen.”
“Jimmy is an entrepreneur, friend and family man, and I am proud to know him and be his friend,” he said.
Sue Paish, chair, Vancouver Board of Trade, made an additional presentation from the Rix Center of a blue sculpture of the Jim Pattison Pavilion at Vancouver General Hospital by British sculptor Timothy Richards. Paish explained the engraved icons symbolized various Pattison industry sectors, “to represent the foundations of our community.”
Pattison said he was “totally overwhelmed with 'The Jimmy Factor' video feature on his life story. “Thank you Darcy and The Board; thank you everyone responsible for me being here tonight,” he said.
Pattison praised Don Rix who he knew as “a special person; he was a special man and an engaged citizen” who provided jobs and supported many causes and projects.
“He was an example to corporations of true corporate responsibility,” he said.
Pattison thanked the sponsors of the evening, particularly RBC Royal Bank who, he recalled, lent him his first $40,000 to set up his own business. He encouraged anyone unable to donate money to donate their time instead to give back to the community, and shared his first volunteering experiences at the age of six with his father in the Downtown Eastside.
“There’s the whole effort of time that we can give,” he said. “It helps you grow in life, meet new people and gives you a sense of accomplishment.” Pattison praised the “huge example of giving” shown by the volunteers at the 2010 Winter Games, and recognized musician Dal Richards, “the longest serving volunteer I know.”
Tenor Ken Lavigne, singer Stephanie Greaves, The Gastown Strutters and the Dal Richards Orchestra, performed throughout the evening. Pattison later received a standing ovation when he joined Richards on stage to play the trumpet.
A Silent Auction included a six-foot, five-inches Totem Pole valued at $18,000, donated by Tsimshian master artist and designer Bill Helin, who was named The Vancouver Board of Trade’s artist-in-residence. Proceeds from a raffle draw for a commemorative Winter Games watch donated by Montecristo Jewellers will go towards The Board’s Leaders of Tomorrow Mentorship Program® for post-secondary students and the Rix Center.
Governors' Banquet 2010: Photos by Dave Roels
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