Carrying on Grant MacEwan’s legacy of leadership and conservation
By Fabian Mayer • Photography by Jared Sych
One of the most respected Canadians of the 20th century, Grant MacEwan was a giant of Western Canadian politics and education. MacEwan was a farmer, a published author of more than 50 books and served as the dean of agriculture at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Calgary. where he became mayor, then a member of the provincial legislature and ultimately, the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.
What often goes overlooked on his lengthy and illustrious resume is his devotion to ecological conservation and charitable work in the province he called home. As one of the founders of Calgary Foundation and its inaugural board chair, MacEwan was committed to doing good in Alberta and the world.
He helped establish Calgary Foundation in 1955 as an enduring organization aimed to ensure that community needs could be met for generations to come. He then created three of his own charitable Funds through the Foundation — the Grant MacEwan Nature Protection Fund, the MacEwan Family Charity Fund and the Grant MacEwan Community Fund.
Since his death in 2000, at the age of 97, that philanthropic work has been carried on by his family, including granddaughters Lynwyn Foran-Aebli and Fiona Foran, who now serve as stewards of those Funds.
Foran-Aebli says carrying on MacEwan’s legacy by advising how the Funds are distributed is just one of the ways she and her family honour her grandfather.
“As a family, we will sit down throughout the year and talk about where those funds are going to be directed,” says Foran-Aebli. “There are certain charities that have been longstanding recipients. We know the work they’re doing and continue to value and support them. And then our eyes and ears are always open to new charities doing really great work that fits with our values.”
Foran-Aebli describes MacEwan as being well ahead of his time. A committed vegetarian long before it became trendy, he was constantly focused on the welfare of the land, water and wildlife.
“As my grandfather termed the mandate [of the Nature Protection Fund] — the protection of man’s fellow creatures and the protection of their habitat — we aim to continue that ethos,” she says. “He believed strongly that all creatures have value, not as a resource, but simply as beings, and their habitat is something that needs to be protected.”
Following that belief, MacEwan and his family had a conservation easement placed through the Southern Alberta Land Trust on a property purchased by MacEwan near Priddis, Alta.
The Grant MacEwan Nature Protection Fund supports groups that preserve biological diversity through education such as the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation and the Cochrane Ecological Institute, which are dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of injured or orphaned wildlife, as well as the Vancouver-based The Fur-Bearers, which protects fur-bearing animals through conservation, advocacy and research.
“We feel so fortunate that we are able to support these charities,” says Foran-Aebli. “It is just the best feeling to know that we help so many worthwhile organizations.”
December, 2025