Hope & Cope Founder Sheila Kussner named a Great Montrealer

Hope & Cope’s Executive Advisory Board, volunteers and staff are pleased to congratulate Sheila Kussner, Founder and Past Chair of Hope & Cope, on her appointment to the Order of Montreal at the rank of Commander, the highest level of the Order.

“I am deeply touched by this wonderful honour,” said Mrs. Kussner. “I’ve been privileged to call Montreal home all these years. It’s a city with character, charm and heart, and it’s been the perfect place to create and sustain a compassionate community of cancer survivors from all walks of life.”

A proud Montrealer, Sheila Kussner has spent close to four decades championing the multi-faceted, complex needs of cancer patients and their families. In 1981, at a time when the word “cancer” was never discussed publicly, she founded Hope & Cope, a one-stop, volunteer-based, professionally managed cancer resource centre at the Jewish General Hospital.

Mrs. Kussner’s revolutionary approach of bringing cancer-experienced volunteers into the hospital oncology setting proved to be a brilliant concept that has been imitated locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

“Sheila embodies courage, compassion, commitment and caring,” noted Hope & Cope Co-Chair Marlene King. Added Co-Chair Joel King, “Sheila is a tenacious, passionate and tireless fundraiser, an unbelievably generous human being, a role model and an inspiration.”

As Hope & Cope celebrates two important milestones in 2017—10 years of cancer wellness at its free-standing JGH Hope & Cope Wellness Centre, and 36 years of Hope & Cope—Mrs. Kussner reaffirmed her determination to ensure the continued vitality of the organization she founded and continues to champion with conviction.