L to R:
Stacey Cynamon, Nancy
Pencer, Holly Pencer Bellman
A beloved physician and farmer who loved to fly
Dr. Murray O’Neil had
a successful career in
medicine, first as a family
physician, and later setting
up a clinic in allergy and
respiratory medicine.
But farming was in his bones.
He had been raised on a farm
and he loved the people
who worked the land. In
the early 1960s, he built a
small mushroom farm near
Leamington, Ontario, and
through his own tenacity
and drive to succeed,
Highline Produce
grew to
be the largest mushroom
grower in Canada.
Despite an active lifestyle,
Murray was diagnosed with
throat cancer, and treated at
One of the world’s most cited scientists contributes
from his own financial success
Dr. Tak Wah Mak has made
the Princess Margaret
Cancer Centre the home
base for his research for
over 40 years. He started
his lab here in 1972, and, in
1984, he became one of the
world’s most cited scientists
for his amazing discovery
of the T-cell receptor—the
Holy Grail of immunology.
In addition to his
responsibilities as Director
of The Campbell Family
Institute for Breast Cancer
Research, Dr. Mak was
a founding partner of a
biotechnology company.
The financial success of
that company has enabled
Dr. Mak to invest his own
personal funds to advance
the work of his team.
We are very grateful to
Dr. Tak Mak for his generous
gift of $3 million which
will continue to fuel the
promising work taking
place in his laboratory.
A family enabling the most personal of
Personalized Cancer Medicine
Thanks to funds donated
and raised each year by
the Pencer family,
The
Gerry & Nancy Pencer Brain
Tumor Centre
provides an
enhanced level of care for
patients and families facing
this serious type of cancer.
This includes care from a
multi-disciplinary team of
health professionals who
provide continuous support
throughout a patient’s
treatment plan, including
nutrition and rehabilitation
strategies and access
to neuropsychological
assessment. The Centre
integrates emotional and
psychosocial care in a place
that is calm, comfortable
and doesn’t feel like a
hospital.
About 125 patients come
to
The Pencer Brain Tumor
Centre
each week.
The Pencer family, along
with their friends, have
raised $12 million since they
began their philanthropic
support of The Princess
Margaret.
Four brothers continue to honour their mother
Concetta Guglietti and her
husband, Giovanni, would
have many reasons to be
proud of their four sons,
Silvio, Riccardo, Marco and
Johnny. Their collective
commitment to financially
supporting research into
the disease that claimed
their mother over a decade
ago is as strong as ever.
They have donated and
helped to raise almost $2
million in her memory.
This year they made
a decision to channel
their support into
immune therapy trials for
gynecological cancers.
The four brothers continue
to participate as Team
Giovanni & Concetta in the
Enbridge Ride to Conquer
Cancer
, organize (with
huge support from their
wives!) the
Most Wanted
Fashion Show
, and they
make an annual donation
to support the work of two
fellows working in immune
therapy.
Murray and Judith O’Neil
L to R:
Silvio, Riccardo, Marco and
Johnny Guglietti
The Princess Margaret by
Dr. Patrick Gullane.
Murray passed away
shortly after his 80
th
birthday, and in 2013,
the Foundation received
a generous bequest of
$1 million from Murray’s
estate, which will be
directed to research
into new approaches to
surgery for head and neck
cancers led by Dr. Gullane
and his team.
