Gupta family donates $1M to Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University

The donation was celebrated today in a cheque presentation ceremony on the TMU campus. The gift provides endowed financial awards to the school’s MBA students in hospitality and tourism management, as well as crucial unrestricted support, allowing the dean to focus on priority needs.

Steve Gupta is a developer, hotelier, business leader and philanthropist. He arrived in Canada in 1971. He was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2022. The Guptas have a long-standing reputation for investing in philanthropic causes locally and around the world. Together they have held eye camps in India, allowing more than 11,000 people to have cataract eye treatments and be cured of eye disease, and developed a water and sanitation project for a girls' school in India. They have also spearheaded the construction of a retirement community in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and continue to see through a long-term commitment to the dearly loved Toronto International Film Festival with the TIFF Bell Lightbox box office officially named the Steve and Rashmi Gupta Box Office.

“I’m a great believer in higher education,” says Steve Gupta. “Learning is like breathing – it should never stop. My family and I believe in giving back to our local community and creating opportunities for others to pursue their dreams of success. We are delighted to work with TMU to help make those dreams come true for students. We share with TMU a desire to help people build the skills that shape self-reliance.”

Cynthia Holmes, dean, Ted Rogers School of Management, noted “The Ted Rogers School has one of the most diverse student populations of any business school in Canada: more than 50 per cent of our students identify as racialized and 30 per cent are first in their family to attend university. A gift like this, from a family rooted in the newcomer experience and earning their success in Canadian business, has special resonance for our community of learners. We are very grateful to the Gupta family for investing in the future of our students.”

A spokesperson for TMU says the institution is “proud to recognize the Gupta family’s generosity through the naming of the Ted Rogers School’s premiere auditorium ‘The Steve & Rashmi Gupta Lecture Theatre.’" At 500 seats, the venue is TMU’s largest lecture theatre, and is used for business classes and for instruction in disciplines across the university. And, thanks to the Gupta family, in the winter of 2025, two deserving MBA students will receive the very first “Gupta Family Foundation Award”—the first of an ongoing series of awards providing crucial financial support to two MBA students each year in perpetuity.