Cécile Mactaggart, Sandy Mactaggart
Philanthropists

Cécile, 66, and Sandy Mactaggart, 77, are celebrated for the exquisite gift the couple bestowed upon the University of Alberta. In April 2005, the Edmonton couple donated a rare collection of ancient and modern Asian art and textiles valued at more than $37 million - the largest donation to the university by any single donor. Rivalling the top 10 Chinese art collections in museums in North America, the "Mactaggart Art Collection" comprises more than 700 pieces: Chinese silk robes, calligraphy, engravings, paintings and hanging scrolls. Soon after their marriage in 1959, the Mactaggarts began their collection by picking up discarded Chinese robes at London auction houses. Cécile has long known the importance of sharing magnificent treasures with the public - her great-great grandfather was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The collection will form the foundation of the university's new centre for Chinese studies to be built on campus with a matching grant from the Alberta government. Sandy Mactaggart is the co-founder of Maclab enterprises, a residential and commercial developer in Alberta, which also operates hotel properties in Edmonton, Jasper National Park and Yellow-knife. - DH

What can Alberta learn by studying China's history and culture?
Says Cécile: China is the only country in the world since early times, certainly since the early 1600s, where it's said any person in China can rise up to be one of the most important men governing China. There's just one standard: excellence. And the way we're going to test you is, at a certain age, you have to take country examinations or state examinations. A village of very poor people might have one boy that they thought was extraordinary. Then they could work really hard, save all their money and the whole village would pool the money to make sure the boy got an education and they would send that boy to take that examination. From any rank you could rise up. You couldn't rise up to be emperor, but you could rise up to be maybe second or third in command. No European country was worked out like that. Alberta completely unknowingly has followed this same principle since I've been here, certainly since 1959. Everybody I knew, everybody I valued and everybody I worshipped was devoted to one principle called excellence.

Who do you think is the greatest Albertan ever?
Lois Hole. She is a personal friend of mine and the Holes are friends of the family. She was a great person.

In 100 years, will you warrant your own chapter in the history books, a footnote to great events or a single Google hit?
Says Cecile: I think a hundred years from now people are going to stand up and say that one of the greatest treasures in Alberta is this collection. I think there might be a footnote.