Philanthropy always in fashion for miner's daughter Suzanne Rogers

Growing up wearing hand‑me‑downs in the northern Ontario town of Elliot Lake, Suzanne Angelique Kolev could hardly have imagined she’d become one of Canada’s most visible champions of fashion and philanthropy.

“My mom would take me to the bin at the Goodwill with my sister, and we’d pick out the clothes that we liked,” she told National Post. Her first pair of new shoes came at eight years old.

Those were humble days for the family, and a time of struggle. The daughter of Hungarian immigrants, Miklos and Suzanna, Suzanne was just five months old when her father died at age 24 in a mining accident, while her mother ran a daycare to make ends meet.

Amid the hardship, fashion gave her a sense of purpose. “It helped me express myself. It helped me just be creative, and establish my own individuality.” A child of the ’80s, she’d visit vintage shops in her family’s new home of St. Thomas, Ont., and, inspired by New Wave music, wore ties with a blazer.

Two decades ago, that instinct for style met a new vision: she undertook a life of philanthropy, with a particular legacy of meaningful support for emerging designers. This month, Rogers was honoured by the Royal Ontario Museum “in recognition of her immeasurable contributions to the art of fashion within Canada and beyond.”

Her philanthropic activism came after her wedding to Edward Rogers, a prominent scion of one of Canada’s wealthiest families who is now the executive chair of Rogers Communications. Instead of gifts at their 2006 wedding, they asked guests to donate to Habitat for Humanity. And with that, two homes were built for families in need.

Shortly afterwards, SickKids hospital invited her to raise funds for a new portable cancer treatment system that allowed teens to receive chemotherapy through a backpack, reducing the time they must spend in hospital.

In the early 2010s, she recognized a lack of support for young Canadian fashion designers aspiring to international success. Intrigued by events such as Toronto Fashion Week, she had followed the advice of Robert Ott, who was then the chair of the school of fashion (2008-2018) at what is now Toronto Metropolitan University, who encouraged her to look deeper, “to see something different.”

Her first time at a school fashion show, she was “impressed” by the calibre of the youthful designers. She asked Ott about what happens next for them, and discovered there was no clear path for graduating fashion students — shrinking bursaries, and no master’s program in Canada.

It was an epiphany for her: “Wow, this is something that I’m interested in.”

Within a few years, she and Edward were putting serious money behind emerging designers.

In 2011, she funded the $25,000 Suzanne Rogers Award for Most Promising New Label at the Toronto Fashion Incubator’s annual gala.

Later, she played a significant role in a monetary award given to promising labels — the Suzanne Rogers Designer Grant for International Development — established as part of the Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFA), which began in January 2014. (Notable recipients have included Greta Constantine and Sid Neigum.) CAFA became a recognized annual ceremony for celebrating both established and emerging talent in Canadian arts and fashion.

By 2016 came the founding of the Suzanne Rogers Fashion Institute at Toronto Metropolitan. Seeded by a $1-million donation from the Edward and Suzanne Rogers Foundation, the institute bridges the gap between post-secondary education and the global fashion market by providing mentorship, funding and vital professional connections.

“There needs to be some support within the business development for these young entrepreneurs,” Rogers said of budding fashion creators. “(Someone) could be a great chef, but he doesn’t know how to run a restaurant. So designers could be very talented, but they have no idea how to develop a brand, promote a brand, market a brand and sell a brand.”

The program has since become a launch pad for prominent Canadian talent, including Olivia Rubens and Alexandra Armata, and is now regarded as one of the industry’s most effective talent incubators.

“I wanted to make a big difference in Canada for these young artists to thrive, and to get a chance to play more prominently on the world stage. But with anything, to pursue any sort of business or a career in fashion, you need doors open, you need mentorship, and you need money. And that’s really lacking in the Canadian fashion landscapes,” she said. “We could help some great designers do well on the world stage.”

Meanwhile, her “Suzanne Rogers Presents” series of gala fundraisers have brought luminaries such as Oscar de la Renta, Marchesa and Victoria Beckham to Toronto, raising millions for both fashion development and children’s charities — of which many are dear to her.

The Rogers family, from left, Edward Jr., Edward S. Rogers III, Suzanne, Chloé and Jack.

In that realm, she has served in leadership capacities on campaigns for Covenant House and the Boost Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, among others. Through her foundation, more than $4 million has been raised to combat child poverty.

Another organization that resonated with her was Darling Home for Kids in Milton, Ont., a respite for children with challenging medical needs. “The work that they do is just so inspiring and, again, under the radar. And I hope that me being involved with some of these groups gives it a bit more attention.”

A decade after she founded that first $25,000 award, the ecosystem she helped build is mature enough that institutions are now honouring her in turn.

On Nov. 4, she received ROM’s Immortal Award at their inaugural Immortal Gala: The Art of Fashion, which celebrated her contributions to the Canadian fashion industry, and the museum itself — including co-sponsoring the “Auschwitz: Not Long Ago, Not Far Away” exhibit in January 2025.

“I think it’s incredible that museums like this share the history of our past, and give us and our children opportunities to learn more,” Rogers said.

The ROM Foundation’s president and CEO, Janice Price, said the museum holds the country’s largest collection of fashion and textile, dovetailing with Rogers’ focus of philanthropy.

Rogers, she said, “represents authenticity and thoughtfulness in her giving,” meaning she gives to “causes where she can make a difference, and where she can lead by example.”

Yet even after the glitter of a gala disappears, Rogers keeps one foot firmly planted 500 kilometres north, in the mining town where her father once descended 1,000 metres underground every day, and where a young girl in second-hand shoes learned to express herself.

“Whenever I can make a difference for Elliot Lake, I do,” she said. And she does: sponsoring Christmas dinners for 300 locals, hosting a memorial reception for the mining families, and donating a CT scanner — their first — to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where she was born.

“To me, Elliot Lake’s very close to my heart,” she said. “My father went down every day, 3,000 feet in a cage, to provide for his family. So to me, he’ll always be my hero for doing what he did for my family. So I always knew that to me, whenever I had a chance to be able to, Elliot Lake would be someplace that I would always give back to.”

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.