Widow, 101, says Rotary Foundation Canada refuses to share husband's $40M fortune
CBC
A 101-year-old Edmonton widow is in a legal battle with the Rotary Foundation Canada over which charities should benefit from her late husband's $40-million estate.
Mary McEachern says the foundation has repeatedly blocked her efforts to honour her husband's final wishes and redistribute his estate to various charities, not the Rotary alone.
"My husband wanted this money to go to many, many deserving charities," McEachern said in an interview with CBC. "But Rotary wants it all, and they're doing every delay tactic they could have done in the past four years to keep it theirs."
A senior Rotary official says the foundation wants to settle the Court of King's Bench dispute but a lack of financial transparency has delayed negotiations.
The same official says the family's decision to take the case public in a "well-orchestrated media campaign" has unfairly maligned the organization.
Steve McEachern accumulated his wealth in his role as an investment advisor with Investors Group, where he worked for 65 years. A lifelong philanthropist, he served with a number of community boards and charities, including Rotary.
When he wrote his will, he entrusted his entire fortune to the Rotary foundation, with the exception of a trust fund to cover his wife's living expenses.
However, Mary McEachern said her husband of 74 years had a change of heart before his death at the age of 98 on Sept. 10, 2020.
She said he instead wished to distribute his assets to 17 charities, including Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS), the Edmonton Humane Society, the Mustard Seed, the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, and the University of Alberta.
In an affidavit, Mary McEachern described how her husband's wishes changed in the final months of his life, as the COVID-19 pandemic made him aware of the growing need among charities closer to home.
She said her husband was unable to make a new will before his death because of public health restrictions and his declining health.
"He advised me of how important it was to him for me to do everything within my power to ensure that his true charitable-giving wishes are carried out."
McEachern said she has offered the Rotary foundation $13 million — as her husband wished — but Rotary has refused to respond.
Four years after Steve McEachern's death, his estate remains untouched, ensnared in the ongoing legal dispute.
CBC Newfoundland and Labrador is kicking off its annual holiday campaign, helping to raise money to support local food banks.
If all goes according to plan, at 6 a.m. AT on Saturday people working at the IWK Health Centre will become the test case for a generational change to Nova Scotia’s health-care system.
One month after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced what he called "generational" military spending, New Brunswick’s defence ecosystem is on high alert.
Miranda Mirlycourtois, 34, looks directly at the camera and makes a confession.
Saskatoon city hall says police spending is projected to be $2.6 million over budget this year. That pushes the city into a $1.2-million deficit position, according to a report that will be considered by city council next week.
Students at the University of Regina are days away from deciding whether a newly formed student association should become their official representative body.
All public schools on P.E.I. are closed Friday and thousands of Maritime Electric customers are without power as strong winds create hazardous travel conditions across the province.
Prince Rupert, B.C., residents are celebrating the holidays this year with coastal flair.
In the four years Chelsey Simmonds has worked at the Eva Rothwell Centre, she has seen the need increase every year at the centre’s community food pantry.
CBC is once again looking to make the holiday season kind in Windsor-Essex.
Acute Care Alberta has extended its contract for another year with a private surgical facility at the centre of probes into health procurement and contracting.
As food bank use continues to climb across the province, front-line workers in Thunder Bay, Ont., are working to improve both food security and education.
More ads could soon be coming to Toronto’s subway system.