Stephen Lewis is remembered alongside Sara Vered, Al Osten, Wolf Bronet and Sondra Gotlieb in The CJN’s latest tribute to remarkable Canadian Jews whose lives left a lasting impact.
Stephen Lewis, who once made Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people, was a humanitarian and ambassador who led Ontario’s NDP before pushing the world to help millions of HIV/AIDS patients in Africa obtain life-saving medicine. His passing on Mar. 31 prompted an outpouring of tributes from global leaders and African grandmothers alike.
Hours before Lewis died, at the age of 88, he was able to watch his son, Avi, continue the family’s political legacy by being elected as the new federal NDP leader.
Lewis is just one of several noteworthy Canadian Jews to have passed away recently. The CJN’s obituary columnist, Heather Ringel, joins North Star host Ellin Bessner on today’s episode to reveal how Lewis and this spring’s four other featured “Honourable Menschen” gave back to their communities.
The others include Wolf Bronet, the Auschwitz survivor who founded Montreal’s “Wolf Pack” running club and helped raise funds for 14 ambulances for Israel through Magen David Adom; Sara Vered, who fought in Israel’s War of Independence before helping bring Israeli and Jewish culture to Ottawa through education, the arts and philanthropy; Al Osten, the former singer who built a Weight Watchers empire in Western Canada and donated millions, alongside his late partner Buddy Victor; and Sondra Gotlieb, the Winnipeg-born journalist and author whose sharp observations made her one of the most recognizable Canadian voices in Washington diplomacy and media circles.
Transcript
Stephen Lewis from a 2020 speech in Brampton: I was thrown back to my years trekking through Africa where every country felt like a graveyard…
Ellin Bessner: Stephen Lewis believed that indifference is a choice.
A law school dropout who once debated John F. Kennedy, Stephen Lewis led the Ontario NDP. Before him, his father David helped found the party that became the national NDP. Now his son Avi leads it.
But the late Stephen Lewis’s greatest impact came far from Canadian politics — helping save millions of lives during Africa’s AIDS crisis 25 years ago…and to this day his Foundation still supports the grandmothers and orphaned children left behind.
And in very different ways, the other prominent Jewish Canadians who we remember today on this episode of The CJN’s “Honourable Menschen” lived that same instinct.
Unlike Lewis, who was known as a skilled orator, as you heard, the other community leaders weren’t known for speeches. Although one WAS known for his singing voice! But they were known for what they built. And what they gave.
I’m Ellin Bessner and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Wednesday May 20, 2026. Welcome to North Star, the Yizkor edition ahead of Shavuout this week. The flagship podcast of The Canadian Jewish News and made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.
Over 1,000 people attended a memorial service for Stephen Lewis held at the Toronto Metropolitan University on April 26. Including retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Rosalie Abella, who called him “a hero, a mensch and the only Jewish saint” she knew. Stephen Lewis once made TIME magazine’s list as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
The CJN’s obituary columnist Heather Ringel joins “North Star” today’s episode to reveal how Lewis and this spring’s four other featured “Honourable Menschen” gave back to their communities in words and deeds.
On Stephen Lewis
Ellin: We talked earlier, Heather, about the LGBT community and AIDS, and I think this might be a good place to segue into Stephen Lewis — former UN ambassador, perhaps a saviour of millions of lives in Africa who were at risk or had caught AIDS and HIV. A towering intellect, and orator.
Stephen Lewis archival audio: I noticed there was a sort of titter of incredulity and some somewhat cynical applause at the reference of honourary degrees. And I felt I should begin with a confessional. I attended four post-secondary institutions of celebrated higher learning over an infinite number of years and managed never — but never — to acquire a degree. I therefore spent my entire adult life shamelessly lusting after honourary degrees, and it has served me well, although I’m prepared to offer them for sale at a discounted price.
Ellin: The family and his friends had a celebration of life on April 26th at Toronto Metropolitan University. Thousands of people watched online. Heather, 54 countries in Africa were online watching. 1,200 people attended in person. You never met him, but of course, growing up in Canada, what were you aware of of his origins?
Heather: Clearly he was from a family that was absolutely connected to socialism. His grandfather was a Polish Jewish immigrant and an activist in the Jewish Labour Committee in Montreal. And then of course his father David Lewis, who was national secretary of the CCF and later federal NDP leader. And then of course now his son, who is federal NDP leader again. And his work with AIDS — I think that he was so respected, just in a bipartisan way, across the board. The fact that Brian Mulroney appointed him as Canada’s ambassador to the UN.
And I also found a fun fact which I thought was very interesting: that he debated John F. Kennedy in 1957 when Kennedy came to Hart House.
And here we had Stephen Lewis, a 19-year-old, debating the future president of the United States.
Ellin: Who won that debate? And this is at U of T. Who won?
Heather: Yes, I believe that Kennedy won the debate. So unsurprisingly. And I know that he also remarked that there were no women allowed in Hart House at that time, and so there was a protest outside with a lot of women who were quite upset not to be able to attend.
And of course his wife Michelle Landsberg was also very upset about that at the time, as she would be.
Ellin: And at this memorial service, much was made of the foundation of his feminism and support for women’s rights that stemmed from what he got at home from Michelle, who was a champion of women’s rights.
Ellin: Despite his political fame here in Canada and his rise to the head of the Ontario NDP, his biggest impact perhaps came far away from Canadian domestic politics. And a South African newspaper recently paid tribute to him, saying he was “the man who shamed the world into seeing Africa’s AIDS catastrophe” — which I thought put it really, really well. What do we know about his work?
Heather: He was a UN special envoy and he went to Africa. He did listen to people there, which is what no one else was really doing at the time. And this was in the very early 2000s. He listened to grandmothers who had buried their children and were now raising grandchildren. And he came back and named names. He knew who these people were, and he accused the G8 group of turning their backs on this crisis. He co-founded the Stephen Lewis Foundation with his daughter in 2003. And he brought 100 African grandmothers and 200 Canadian grandmothers together in Toronto in something called the Grandmothers Campaign in 2006, and it was something that really brought that, as you said, to the forefront here. And eventually of course the G8 and the international community — who had kind of been hoarding the medicine — because of this attention, he wouldn’t let up. He went to everyone he could think of to call it out.
Ellin: Finally, I want to ask you about something a bit controversial. According to Avi, his father had come to take a different position on Israel.
Heather: I know that he required a walker, he was frail. He stood for over an hour outside his former riding to protest the deaths in Gaza. He was very connected Jewishly, but just had a very strong conscience about what he believed was right and wrong. He was very passionate about that cause, certainly.
Ellin: It’s not to say that he didn’t also fight antisemitism, which he had endured or witnessed while he was in the diplomatic and political world, and always was sympathetic to Israel as a refuge for Jews. But after October 7th, he and his wife became visible on the protest circuit for Palestinian rights.
Somebody said he was the greatest premier Ontario never had.
Ellin: And we should say that I was listening to the eulogy, the ceremony for Stephen Lewis, and Olivia Chow got the City of Toronto to have the CN Tower lit up in orange the night of his memorial service.
Related stories
- Learn more about the late Calgary philanthropist Al Osten in The CJN.
- Why Sondra Gotlieb’s Washington home became a sought-after invitation while her husband was Canada’s ambassador to the United States, in The CJN.
- Sara Vered fought in Israel’s War of Independence then helped bring Israeli and Jewish culture to Ottawa, in The CJN.
- Wolf Bronet started running outdoors for his 40th birthday. Hundreds have followed his footsteps around Montreal. In The CJN.
- Stephen Lewis launched the Stephen Lewis Foundation during his time helping to fight against HIV/AIDS and assist surviving orphans and grandmothers.
Editor’s note: this archive entry preserves the segments of the CJN’s May 20, 2026 “Honourable Menschen” podcast and article that focus on Stephen Lewis. Tributes to Al Osten, Sondra Gotlieb, Sara Vered, and Wolf Bronet that appeared in the original are summarized above and available in full at the source link.