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Spring 2022 Honorary Degree Recipient

Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)

Born in Munich, Germany to Holocaust survivors, Jim Spatz (MD’74) immigrated to Canada through Pier 21 with his family as a small child. He started his career as a physician, practising family and then emergency medicine for 15 years. Today, Spatz is an award-winning CEO and philanthropic trailblazer. He has led Southwest Properties Limited, one of Atlantic Canada’s leading real estate developers, for over 30 years. 

In 2008, Dr. Spatz founded the Spatz Foundation and has made substantial charitable and volunteer contributions to arts and culture, health, entrepreneurship, and Jewish life regionally and nationally. Countless organizations have benefitted from his generosity, including the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Neptune Theatre, Spatz Theatre, IWK Health Centre, Phoenix Youth Programs, Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Discovery Centre.

Jim Spatz has also been a true friend to ±«Óãtv, serving on the Board of Governors from 2001 to 2015 and its chair from 2008 to 2014. He sits on the ±«Óãtv Advisory Council, is a founding partner and Fellow of the ±«Óãtv-based CDL-Atlantic and was instrumental in establishing the Simon and Riva Spatz Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies, named for his parents. Spatz has been inducted into the Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame and in 2013 received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.