David Mirvish Art Dealer, Bookseller, Co-Producer, Mirvish Productions

	Ed Mirvish Theatre Impresario & Retail Mogul

Ed Mirvish, the man known to millions of Torontonians as ‘Honest Ed,’ got an early start in business, and now, at 91 years of age, he’s never looked back. Upon the death of his father in 1929, 15-year-old Ed had to quit school and work in the family grocery store to help support his family.

In early 1940s, he opened a women’s clothing shop at Bloor and Bathurst streets, on the site that would become Honest Ed’s. To this day, Honest Ed’s is a one-of-a-kind bargain store that provides an object lesson in successful retailing with its countless flashing lights on the marquee, its overstuffed merchandising shelves and bins, its handwritten signs featuring corny puns (such as: "We don't offer service. We have a slogan – serve yourself and save a lot of money" and “Welcome, don't faint at our low prices, there's no place to lie down”), and its doorcrasher specials including giving away free turkeys to over 1,000 families at Christmas. Every year on his birthday, Ed hosts a street party that makes him an even greater hero to the tremendously diverse population of Torontonians and visitors that come to Honest Ed’s.

Ed’s son David began his career at age 18 as an art dealer. Between 1963 and 1978, the David Mirvish Gallery held regular exhibitions in Toronto of new works by artists from Canada, the United States and England. David continues to be an active collector and frequent lender to international exhibitions at museums and galleries throughout the world.

In the 1960s, Ed Mirvish negotiated with the Cawthra Mulock trust to buy the then-tired Royal Alexandra Theatre, built in 1907 but threatened with demolition. To help market theatre productions at the refurbished Royal Alex, Ed used theatre subscriptions, which helped guarantee audiences for his eclectic roster of touring and later home-grown shows, and which offered weekday matinees that made live theatre more accessible to seniors and students.

To help attract patrons to his theatre, he began buying properties along King Street West and opened a series of restaurants that operated for 40 years and served 6,000 meals an evening. With such brand names as Old Ed’s, Ed’s Warehouse, Most Honourable Ed’s Chinese, and Ed’s Seafood, it’s clear that Ed understood the marketing concept of market segmentation before the term became popular!

In a similar fashion, Ed purchased residential properties on Markham Street adjacent to Honest Ed’s to create Mirvish Village, a collection of small, arty businesses that today also includes restaurants and boutiques. Over the past 30 years, David’s bookstore, David Mirvish Books/Books on Art located in Mirvish Village, has established a reputation as one of the premier independent booksellers in the city.

In 1986, David formed Mirvish Productions to mount live theatre productions that played in the Royal Alex and other venues throughout Canada, the U.S. and England. In 1993, David and Ed opened The Princess of Wales Theatre a block west of the Royal Alex, believed to be the first privately owned, freestanding legitimate theatre to be built anywhere in North America in over 30 years. And in 20__, Mirvish Productions assumed management of the historic Canon Theatre (formerly the Pantages) to further expand their roster of venues. In total, the Mirvishes have produced or co-produced several hundred theatrical shows, including Canadian productions of such long-running Broadway and West End hit musicals as Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, The Lion King and Mamma Mia!. More recently, the Mirvishes have helped develop new Canadian ‘theatrical product’ by supporting up-and-coming Canadian plays and playwrights such as Two Pianos, Four Hands, Michael Healey’s The Drawer Boy and Adam Pettle’s Zadie’s Shoes. Their productions have earned several Tony Awards on Broadway, as well as Dora Mavor Moore Awards in Toronto.

In 2006, Mirvish Productions will present the world premiere of the stage version of The Lord of the Rings, an unprecedented, wide-reaching theatrical event with a budget of $27 million.

Ed Mirvish has received hundreds of awards, including honorary doctorates from six Canadian universities, in recognition of his contribution to cultural and humanitarian causes. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for the restoration of London’s Old Vic Theatre. In November 2005, he was named the ‘Greatest Living Torontonian.’

David is active in the community through his membership on boards of directors or as honourary patron of various cultural institutions. He is a Member of the Order of Canada, received the Brenda Donohue Award for outstanding contribution to the Toronto theatre community in 1990, and holds several honourary doctorates.

Ed and David were jointly honoured in 1998 with a special Olivier Award in England for their 15-year contribution to London theatre, and were also named ‘Tourism Persons of the Year’ by Toronto Tourism.