Israel Asper was born to a Jewish family in Minnedosa, Manitoba, the son of musicians Leon Asper and Cecilia Swet, who had emigrated from Ukraine. Asper attended the University of Manitoba. In 1957 he received his law degree from the University of Manitoba, and was called to the bar shortly thereafter. He founded the firm of Asper, Freedman & Co. in 1959, and was also a partner and co-founder of the firm Buchwald, Asper, Henteleff along with Harold Buchwald and Yude Henteleff. In 1970 he wrote The Benson Iceberg: A critical analysis of the White Paper on Tax Reform in Canada. He married Ruth Miriam "Babs" Asper on May 27, 1956 at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. Also in 1970, Asper was elected leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party. Asper represented a right-libertarian strain within the party. In the Manitoba election of 1973, he promoted a laissez-faire economy, and advocated the elimination of the welfare state. He also advocated the public financing of election campaigns, to ensure that politics would not be dominated entirely by monied interests. His Liberals won only five seats, and Asper was elected in Wolseley by only four votes. He resigned as party leader and MLA in 1975, though he continued to support the Manitoba Liberal Party in later years. His media empire started with the Winnipegtelevision stationCKND-TV in 1975. CanWest grew to encompass the Global Television Network, the daily newspaperNational Post and over 60 other Canadian newspapers. Asper was noted for his fierce loyalty to Manitoba, refusing enticements to move east to Toronto. The faculty of management at the University of Manitoba renamed itself the Asper School of Business in 2000. He was also a noted philanthropist, making major donations to the arts and education; in 2001 he donated $5 million CAD to the St. Boniface Hospital & Research Foundation in Winnipeg. Asper became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995. Also in 1995, he was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame. He was a prominent member of Canada's Jewish community, and a vocal supporter for Israel. Asper was also a close friend of many of Canada's prominent political and business elite, including Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. Controversially, Asper's newspaper chain fired journalist Russell Mills when he wrote an article which was critical of Jean Chretien and demanded he resign. Asper died in St. Boniface Hospital at the age of 71 after suffering a heart attack. He was buried in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery in Winnipeg in the presence of 1,500 mourners, including Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and leading politicians.
