Philip Abbey and his late father Stanley were always extremely close. “We could tell each other anything, we knew everything about each other’s lives,” Philip says. Starting in 1975, father and son worked as partners in their insurance business. Some days, however, Stanley had other business on his mind. Instead of focusing on insurance, he would spend hours and hours going over his prospective donor lists for The Cummings Centre.

“You just can’t imagine,” recalls Philip, “Back then, everything was printed out on these big sheets with green lines. Stacks and stacks of names and address, phone numbers and histories – and Dad was there making phone call after phone call.” Stanley’s pace and dedication to the Foundation only increased when he officially stepped back from the shared business.

Giving back to community was something that had been part of Philip’s life since he was a child: “At 11 years old I was running back and forth to my mother’s car, picking up envelopes with two dollars, ten dollars – anything that that people were willing to give,” he says, referring to the Montreal’s Allied Jewish Community Services’ special 1967 war fund campaign.

Stanley Abbey had always dedicated himself to his community, including taking on the role of President of Baron de Hirsch, during the crucial period when it evolved into Jewish Family Social Services. From 2009-11 he was President of the Cummings Foundation, and was a Founder and Chair of the Governors Program – the Foundation’s most significant annual initiative. “He spent an inordinate amount of time working for the Foundation,” says Philip, recalling his father’s determination in those early years, “He decided that he was going to make it work.”

The deep-rooted family tradition of philanthropy evolved over Philip’s lifetime. “I was part of a group who brought back a dynamic young business and professional edition at AJCS. Later, when my wife and I had young kids, I became more involved in causes like Just for Kids and the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. You get involved where it means the most to you at the time,” says Philip, whose three children are now grown, two living in Montreal with families of their own, and his youngest based in Toronto.

“But Dad always wanted me to get more involved in the Cummings Centre and with the start-up of the Foundation – to help him with phone calls and in bringing more people on as Governors.”

As he grew older, Stanley suffered a number of health challenges, and came to rely on the Cummings Centre himself – the Parkinson’s program (although his condition was PSP) as well as the driving service. The family – including Philip’s siblings, also Foundation supporters – saw firsthand how the Centre could be a lifeline.

Now in his 60s, Philip feels more personally attuned to the needs of the seniors’ community and its members’ mental and physical well-being. “The Governors program exists to provide a secure financial base of support to the Cummings Centre. The bottom line is that we are here to raise money so that at any given point, if the Centre needs to do a specific project or offer an important service, we have the funding available.” The program continues to flourish, with over 1,400 current Governors supporting the vital services at the Cummings Centre.

The onset of the pandemic brought the need into even sharper focus.

“The feeling of isolation over the past year … these people, they have been living it for years,” says Philip, “There hasn’t been the excuse of a pandemic. Their spouses have passed away, kids have moved away, their grandkids aren’t here. Maybe they don’t have funds for what they need. Human contact is essential … being able to reach someone and show them that there are services at the Cummings Centre that could benefit them.”

When Stanley passed away in 2013, Philip followed in his father’s footsteps, serving as Vice-President and Chair of the Governors Program before assuming the role of President, from 2017-19. When he first became a canvasser for the Governors Program, Philip’s first job was clear: to take over all of Stanley’s contacts.

“He was my father, he was my business partner. And we were best friends to the end.”

Note: The Foundation was sad to learn that Philip’s mother Myrna Abbey passed away in April 2021.