Overview
- The Stephen Lewis Foundation announced his death Tuesday after an eight-year fight with stomach cancer.
- He led Ontario’s New Democratic Party in the 1970s and later served as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations before senior UN roles focused on Africa and HIV/AIDS.
- Leaders across parties, including Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, praised his humanitarian leadership.
- He co-founded the Stephen Lewis Foundation in 2003, which reports raising over $200 million for grassroots groups in 15 African countries.
- The death followed his son Avi Lewis’s election as federal NDP leader days earlier, a timing noted in family and media accounts.