Salah Bachir crashed into Canadian culture with a singular verve, imprinting his generous vision across massive swaths of the country’s arts and queer communities.
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Bachir → crash → arts
He breathed life into Canada’s film magazines while brushing elbows with the people who bring life onto the screen.
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who → breathe → screen
He sought out the stories that made those people relatable, while his own style brought a flashy rebelliousness to corporate Canada.
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style → seek → Canada
He was outspoken about his own queerness and chose brooches over neckties – “he was too busy putting jewellery on,” his husband, the visual artist Jacob Yerex, said.
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husband → choose → jewellery
In spite of his stylistic flair, Mr. Bachir did not necessarily enjoy the spotlight, so he directed it elsewhere.
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he → enjoy → it
At the galas he hosted – an endless stream, according to his friends – he shone it on causes he deemed important and people whom he mentored and befriended.
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he → host → whom
For Mathieu Chantelois, the executive vice-president of communications and strategy with the Canada Media Fund, this became almost like a father-son relationship.
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this → become → relationship
“Salah introduced me to two prime ministers, two premiers, two mayors, two governors-general, to Elton John, to k.d. lang, to Valentino – but what he really did was he introduced me to his wonderful circle of friends,” said Mr. Chantelois, who first came under Mr. Bachir’s wing while editing the Quebec edition of his Famous Players magazine a quarter-century ago, and would later become executive director of Pride Toronto.
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who → introduce → Toronto
“He was surrounded by incredible people – people that were advocating for queer rights in this country, people that were fighting for newcomers, for immigrants, for social justice.”
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that → surround → justice
This included Mr. Bachir’s work with The 519, the storied community centre for 2SLGBTQ+ people in Toronto’s Gay Village.
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This → include → Village
Two decades ago, he led a capital campaign to renovate and expand The 519’s building; a wing now
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he → lead → wing
He also led its annual fundraising gala for years.
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He → lead → years
“Salah helped make The 519’s future possible,” said Maura Lawless, its executive director.
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Lawless → make → ?
“He understood that queer communities needed a place to gather, organize, celebrate and receive care – and that such a place deserved ambition and investment.”
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place → understand → ambition
Mr. Bachir racked up an extraordinary amount of accolades: he was a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario; he served as chancellor of OCAD University; he received five honorary doctorates; he served twice as grand marshal of the Toronto Pride parade.
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he → rack → parade
(“I always felt Salah was pretty much the grand marshal of everything he got involved with,” said his friend, filmmaker Atom Egoyan.)
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friend → feel → everything
Gallery spaces and community centres across Toronto bear Mr. Bachir’s name, including at the 519 and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
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spaces → bear → Ontario
Stephan Jost, the gallery’s director and chief executive, said Mr. Bachir was “always the life of a party – he loved art and people and smart conversation that connected all of the threads.
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that → say → threads
He lived surrounded by art and immersed himself in a world of artists, thinkers, and creators.”
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He → live → artists
The film executive, philanthropist and merry gala-runner received medical assistance in death on Oct. 8 after years of kidney problems, which were followed by a compromised immune system, an inability to walk or stand, and what he told friends was relentless pain.
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he → receive → friends
Salah John Bachir was born on Oct. 3, 1955, in Kfar Hatta, Lebanon, and moved to Canada with his family at the age of 10, settling in the Toronto-area suburb of Rexdale.
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Bachir → bear → Rexdale
He studied at the University of Waterloo, where his time in student journalism gave him an affection for salesmanship.
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time → study → salesmanship
Selling newspaper ads helped him understand the importance of relationships in getting things done.
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things → sell → relationships
This was profoundly helpful when, after working at his brother George’s early video-rental store, the pair launched the magazine Videomania in 1982, focused on the fast-rising world of home video.
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pair → work → video
Mr. Bachir rarely rested – in fact, friends say he rarely slept at all – and soon after he launched Premiere Magazine and the Focus on Video trade show, which helped him build his wealth and a bustling network of film-industry bigwigs.
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him → rest → bigwigs
“He was a success because he was fun to do business with,” said Cathy Prowse, who worked closely with Mr. Bachir for three decades across numerous ventures.
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who → do → ventures
As the industry shifted, so did Mr. Bachir, moving on from the home-video world to the cinema world, but his focus on advertising remained.
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focus → shift → advertising
He launched Famous Players Media in 1999 in partnership with the cinema chain, and with Viacom, where he worked on advertising while still keeping a hand on its in-house Famous magazines.
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he → launch → magazines
When Cineplex Galaxy bought Famous Players six years later, he went on to become president of Cineplex Media – a position he held until 2021.
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he → buy → 2021
“He knew all the players because of that,” said his friend Nancy Lockhart, who knew Mr. Bachir for four decades and served with him on the Canadian Film Centre’s board.
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who → know → board
His ability to maintain relationships extended well beyond his life in business, she said: It helped him build a network of people to tap when raising money for causes he believed in.
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he → maintain → causes
Mr. Bachir rallied around causes that helped underserved communities, including LGBTQ organizations, and the artistic world, in which he deeply immersed himself.
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he → rally → himself
He earned the half-joking nickname “Gala Salah” for the dozens of fundraising galas he hosted to raise money.
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he → earn → money
“If you had Salah on your side and he believed in what you were trying to do, he was a magician,” said Chris Abraham, artistic director of Crow’s Theatre in Toronto, for which Mr. Bachir raised a “significant amount of money” in the past decade.
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Bachir → have → decade
This endless stream of fundraising galas allowed Mr. Bachir to develop a series of rules for success, which his husband, Mr. Yerex, can recount from memory: “Short speeches.
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husband → allow → memory
Always have food on the table when people arrive.
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people → have → table
This meant bringing in well-known artists – be they visual artists whose work would be auctioned off or singers such as Molly Johnson, whose performances would keep guests thrilled.
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guests → mean → Johnson
Mr. Bachir loved telling stories about his network of celebrity friends, culminating in his 2023 book First to Leave the Party: My Life with Ordinary People … Who Happen to be Famous, with the imprint Signal.
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Who → love → imprint
He talked Lebanese food with Marlon Brando; he had regular check-in calls with filmmaker Norman Jewison.
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he → talk → Jewison
“Salah built these really personal, meaningful relationships with really famous people, but treated everyone exactly the same,” said Heather George, executive director of the Woodland Cultural Centre, a Brantford, Ont., hub for Haudenosaunee knowledge and Indigenous culture; Mr. Bachir co-chaired the centre’s fundraising campaign for a new building.
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- → build → building
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
