Herman Kassinger's impact lives on through his foundation
The late Herman Kassinger, a renowned land developer, understood the importance of giving others a helping hand. His insight was personal; he arrived in Canada in 1952 with $30 in his pocket and dreams of opportunities unavailable in post-Second World War Germany. As he built his empire, he donated generously to causes in Oshawa and Durham Region as a way of giving back to the communities that afforded him these opportunities.
Today, the Herman Kassinger Foundation continues these philanthropic endeavours on Herman’s behalf, and includes Ontario Tech as one of the regular beneficiaries of its generosity. In 2003, the foundation established six financial awards for undergraduate students, and in 2021, it contributed to the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) program at Ontario Tech.
“During Herman’s lifetime, he contributed generously to Ontario Tech and we are continuing his legacy,” says G. Charles S. Morison, an Oshawa lawyer who is one of the foundation’s directors. “When we looked at the different programs we could fund, we discovered there was a gap in available funding for qualified graduate students who had financial impediments and it seemed like a good idea to make a donation to support the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program.”
The OGS program encourages excellence in graduate studies at publicly assisted universities in Ontario. The program provides qualified graduate students with scholarships of $15,000 annually, a portion of which is donor funded. In addition, the foundation also contributed to the construction of Shawenjigewining Hall, the university’s newest building, and home to the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ontario Tech Student Union and the Office of Student Life, as well as classrooms, conference spaces and meeting places. One of the building’s meeting spaces will bear a commemorative plaque in honour of the foundation’s support.
“We want to make sure that there’s an impact from our gifts, so we do our due diligence,” says Charles. “We’d like to think Herman would be gratified to know what his contributions were supporting. He was very proud of Oshawa, having built much of it, and was very proud of his contributions to his community."
Ontario Graduate Scholarship recipient and Master of Applied Bioscience student, Urvi Pajankar (centre) with the Herman Kassinger Foundation’s Directors, Chris Roberts (left) and G. Charles S. Morison (right).