site.btaMonument to Canadian Entrepreneur and Philanthropist of Bulgarian Origin Ignat Kaneff Unveiled at Kaneff University Hospital in Ruse

A bust monument of the Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist of Bulgarian origin, Ignat Kaneff (1926 - 2020), was unveiled Thursday at the Kaneff University Hospital in Ruse, on the Danube.

The monument is the work of the sculptor Nina Lishovska. The event was attended by Ignat Kaneff's wife, Didi Kaneff, and his daughters, Anna-Maria Kaneff and Kristina-Maria Kaneff.

Didi Kaneff stressed that her late husband was a "son of Bulgaria" and that everything Bulgarian was dear to him. She added that she and her daughters will try not to disappoint as they fulfill Ignat Kaneff's work and his legacy, which is enough to build for the next 20 years. The most important thing is that they try to follow his work as a philanthropist, Didi Kaneff stressed.

Kristina-Maria Kaneff thanked the doctors and nurses who take care of people every day and work for the cause of helping, as her father did.

Anna-Maria Kaneff shared how Ignat Kaneff, when he emigrated to Canada, promised to donate two thousand dollars to a hospital there, which he had not even earned yet, but expected to earn in the future. "His definition of giving was to help but not expect anything in return," she said.

With a donation from the Kaneff family, the departments of pediatrics, transfusion hematology and dialysis treatment were renovated at the University Hospital in Ruse. A children's playground was also built for the young patients of the medical facility. As a sign of appreciation, since the end of 2017, the hospital bears his name.

Another bust-monument of Ignat Kanev will be unveiled on Friday, on his birthday, in his native Ruse village of Gorno Ablanovo. The monument will be placed in front of the Kaneff Probuda community centre. The centre was built in 2014 with funds donated by the Canadian billionaire.