Remembering Stephen Lewis, 1937 – 2026
Patsy George, Emeritus Director, Stephen Lewis Foundation
“ Stephen’s deep caring, sense of humour, and exquisite speaking ability focussed on bringing peace and freedom for all will remain his legacy. ”David Morley, Co-Chair, Stephen Lewis Foundation
“ There’s no one who could gather up the facts and feelings and call us all to act the way Stephen did. He changed the sea in which all international organizations work. ”Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, co-founder Stephen Lewis Foundation
“ It was the greatest honour in life to join my father in the founding and work of the SLF. I know he was so proud to be in common cause with wonderful SLF colleagues, the grandmothers across sub-Saharan Africa and Canada, and the principled and effective community-based organizations with which all of us, past and present at the SLF, have had the privilege to stand in solidarity. ”Idah Mukuka Nambeya, Senior Advisor to the Stephen Lewis Foundation Grandmothers Campaign
Stephen leaves a very big legacy and a mark on the continent. My country, Zambia, will never forget him.Honouring an unwavering force in the movement to end the HIV epidemic
It is with profound sadness that the Foundation shares the news of the passing of our co-founder Stephen Lewis.
Stephen was a respected humanitarian who spent his life championing social justice and human rights. Throughout his political and international careers, he was committed to creating a more equitable world.
“We learned, early on, that the strength and resilience of communities and community projects is the road to hope, to empathy, to survival. The Stephen Lewis Foundation will never let its guard down. We know the tasks are herculean.”
– Stephen Lewis, Grassroots, 2021
An extraordinary Canadian committed to creating a better world
Watch our executive director reflect on Stephen’s legacy
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Stephen touched countless people's lives with his unwavering commitment to justice. We invite you to reflect on the impact of Stephen's work and share your condolences with Stephen’s family and the SLF community.Be Part of Stephen’s Legacy
Help honour Stephen’s legacy and his determination for a fairer, more equitable world by making a gift in his memory to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Your gift will help our community partners continue to provide care and support for young women and girls, members of LGBTIQ communities, grandmothers caring for orphaned children, and people living with HIV.
An extraordinary Canadian committed to creating a better world
Stephen began his career as an NDP member of the Ontario legislature from 1963 to 1978, during which time he became party leader and leader of the official opposition. In 1984 he was appointed across party lines as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, where he served until 1988.
Stephen served as the UN Secretary-General’s special advisor on Africa from 1986 to 1991, and he was the deputy executive director of UNICEF from 1995 to 1999.
During this period, Stephen worked on several significant reports. In 1992, as the special advisor on race relations to the Premier of Ontario, he was responsible for the “Stephen Lewis Report on Race Relations in Ontario.”
Working with UNICEF in 1993, he coordinated the “Graça Machel study,” which was the first global study on the impact of armed conflict on children. Ms. Machel’s report was presented to the UN General Assembly in 1996.
In 1997, in addition to his work at UNICEF, Mr. Lewis was appointed by the Organization of African Unity (precursor to the African Union) to a Panel of Eminent Personalities to Investigate the Genocide in Rwanda. “Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide” was published in June 2000.
In 2001, Stephen was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as his special envoy for HIV and AIDS in Africa. Throughout his travels, Stephen was confronted by the ravages of AIDS: overflowing medical wards, endless funerals, and village after village with people—often young women—in the throes of death.
His personal connections with the people he met informed the urgency of his message to the global community: that the expertise needed to confront the pandemic resided with the communities most affected. With this in mind, in 2003 Stephen recruited his daughter, Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, to create a foundation to support HIV and AIDS grassroots organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. Over a kitchen table, the Stephen Lewis Foundation was born.
Within a few short years, the Foundation was raising $10 million a year from supporters, many of whom were inspired by Stephen’s message and his unparalleled gift for oratory. He was brilliant and loquacious, and possessed a seemingly encyclopedic list of facts and figures, but the real power behind his fiery speeches was that they came from the heart.
A committed feminist—values Stephen credited his wife, Michele Landsberg, with instilling—he knew gender inequality was driving the AIDS pandemic. He saw women denied treatment, women who were victims of violence, and women living with HIV who had the caretaking burden for their families and households.
And while women were at the centre of the community response, they were not afforded the same access to the international stage. “Somehow the women have been excluded from making the decisions,” he said. “And that’s not an accident.”
Often, those women were grandmothers. In August 2006, the SLF hosted the first Grandmothers Gathering in Toronto: an unprecedented meeting of 300 Canadian and African grandmothers that launched the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. By its 15th anniversary in 2021, the campaign had raised $40 million for community-based organizations supporting African grandmothers.
Stephen was relentless in his calls for greater access to testing and treatment, increased global funding, and the political will to end the pandemic. In 2007, his determination to expose the systemic injustices underlying AIDS led him to co-found with Paula Donovan the international advocacy organization AIDS-Free World. He continued demanding the world’s attention on issues of global inequity, including access to vaccines, and climate change.
In 2021, he spoke of the determination of the Foundation’s partners to forge ahead in the face of COVID-19. He joyfully wrote of the recognition by the world’s aid agencies—finally—of community-based interventions. “Africa knows what it takes to withstand the ferocity of contagious diseases. What we have is the triumph of community-based prevention, treatment and care,” he proudly proclaimed.
Stephen Lewis was a Companion of the Order of Canada, recipient of the Pearson Peace medal, and the World Pride Human Rights Award. Among his many esteemed roles, he served as an advisory committee member to Human Rights Watch Canada, as a commissioner on the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, and he served terms on the boards of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and on the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. He received 42 honorary doctorates from Canadian and American universities.
Stephen is survived by his wife, Michele Landsberg, their three children, Ilana, Avi, and Jenny, and four grandchildren, Zev, Yoav, Zimri, and Toma, and by his siblings Michael Lewis, Janet Solberg, and Nina Libeskind and their families.
His legacy will live on through the work of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, our staff, volunteers, supporters, and partners. We remain steadfast in continuing the work he believed in so deeply.