Henry R. Jackman
Plot 17, Lot 3
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Harry (Henry) Jackman was born in Toronto on November 5, 1900. He attended the University of Toronto, Harvard University, and Osgoode Hall Law School. Jackman spent his working career in the investment and insurance business and is best known for the philanthropic works of the Jackman Foundation. Jackman was also elected to the House of Commons representing Rosedale during the general elections of 1940 and 1945.
It was through Jackman’s efforts that Toronto acquired three of its best-known statues. Standing in the centre of Queen’s Park is a five-ton work by English Sculptor Sir Thomas Brock depicting King Edward VII astride his horse, Kildare. This statue formerly stood in Delhi, India and was brought to Toronto at a personal cost to Jackman of ten thousand dollars.
At the southwest corner of City Hall Square is a three-metre-high (10 ft.) statue of Winston Churchill. It is the creation of Yugoslavian-born sculptor Oscar Nemon and cost $50,000, an amount totally funded by the Jackman Foundation and private subscriptions. It was unveiled on October 23, 1977. The third “Jackman” statue is the 14.6-metre-high (48 ft.) bronze and marble monument in the centre of University Avenue, just south of the Dundas Street intersection. Funded totally by the Jackman Foundation it, too, is the work of Oscar Nemon and, as the inscription describes, was erected “In memory of our Canadian airmen who fought in the skies to preserve freedom and order in this world.” Also inscribed on the marble base are the names of Canadian airmen who won the Victoria Cross. This monument, which was caught up in all sorts of controversy, including how money left over from the fund raising for the Churchill statue should be spent, wasn’t unveiled until 1984, five years after its benefactor had passed away. Henry Jackman died on November 26, 1979.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded