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Dateline: 12th July, 2007
"Honest Ed" Mirvish Dies Canadian Ed Mirvish, who saved the Old Vic back in the eighties when it was threatened with closure, has died at the age of 92. He was known as "Honest Ed" after his discount store in Toronto which he opened in 1948 and was the foundation of his fortune, becoming so well known that in 1988 it was declared a tourist attraction. He was keen on theatre and in 1963 he bought Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre to save it from demolition and had it making a profit at the end of five years. In1982 he bought the Old Vic, bidding against Andrew Lloyd Webber who wanted it as a home for his musicals. Although the purhcase was to be by sealed bid, Lloyd Webber announced he had bid £500,000 so Mirvish bid a further £50,000 and won. He spent £2.5m on its restoration and then sold it to the Old Vic Theatre Trust in 1998 for £3.5m. He was awarded the CBE in 1989 for saving the theatre and given an honorary Olivier in 1996 for outstanding service to British theatre. He was an Officer of the Order of Canada and the recipient of more than 250 awards. In Toronto in 1993 with his son David he built a new theatre, the Princess of Wales, because he wanted to bring Miss Saigon (which he had seen in London) to the city but there wasn't a theatre big enough to take it! Mirvish Productions now run three Toronto theatres, the original two and the Canon, the most recent addition to the stable. He died in hospital in Toronto on 11th July, just two weeks before his 93rd birthday.
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