Maxwell Cummings (born Komiensky), (April 19, 1898 – May 23, 2001) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

real estate builder and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. Born in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

, the son of David and Beatrice Cummings, he came to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

with his family in 1911. His siblings included Harold Cummings (car dealership), Nathan Cummings (Consolidated Foods, which later became Sara Lee Corporation), and Minnie (Abbey). In 1929, he began a career in real estate brokerage and development. He was responsible for Canada's first

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

, the

Norgate shopping centre This is a list of small shopping centres (mostly neighbourhood shopping centres) in the island of Montreal. *A neighbourhood shopping centre is an industry term in North America for a shopping centre with of gross leasable area, typically ancho ...

in Saint-Laurent (now part of Montreal) and was one of the first Canadians to develop low-cost housing (lots of so-called veteran homes all over Montreal). He was a prominent member of the Montreal Jewish community. His offspring include the late philanthropist and entrepreneur Jack Cummings and businessman Robert Cummings. Jack's children include Steven Cummings, who like his grandfather has received the Order of Canada, Richard Cummings, former Executive Director of Jewish Family and Child Toronto, and Nancy Cummings-Gold, former president of The PACCK Foundation and wife of Senator

Marc Gold Marc Gold (born June 30, 1950) is a Canadian law professor and politician who has served as Representative of the Government in the Senate since 2020. Gold has sat as the senator for Stadacona, Quebec since he was appointed on the advice of Pr ...

. In 1978, Maxwell Cummings was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

and a Grand officer of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

in 1990.

References

* 1898 births 2001 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Businesspeople from Montreal Businesspeople from Saint John, New Brunswick Canadian men centenarians Canadian Jews Canadian philanthropists Grand Officers of the National Order of Quebec Members of the Order of Canada Jewish centenarians {{Canada-business-bio-stub