Arran and Ratana Stephens, and their family, are providing Simon Fraser University (SFU) with its largest-ever donation: $40 million for its new school of medicine, months before its opening. 

That school is set to be named the SFU Stephens Family School of Medicine in honour of the donation.

Its first class of 48 medical students are readying to begin their studies in August. The size of each cohort is expected to gradually increase to 120 students by 2035, according to SFU.

The Stephenses co-founded and are principals at Nature’s Path, which is known for its breakfast foods and snacks as well as its organic tortilla-chip brand Que Pasa, which it bought for an undisclosed amount in 2012. 

Arran Stephens told Business in Vancouver on Friday, June 5, that the donation did not come from the family’s Nature’s Path stake, but rather from real estate investments. 

“We just gave away a significant amount of our savings,” he said. “That’s for sure. I mean, a vast percentage of it.”

He said he and his wife, both of whom are in their 80s, are in good health.

The gift is officially from the Stephens family, and Arran Stephens said by “family” he means that “we’re all part of the greater family of humanity, and we’ve always felt that. But we do have four children, [their] four spouses, and seven grandchildren.”

Nature’s Path, as a private company, does not publicly reveal financial statements but Ratana Stephens told BIV in 2020 that the company generated $450 million in annual revenue. Arran Stephens declined to provide an updated revenue estimate.

The couple’s philanthropy is extensive.

Arran Stephens told BIV the family has provided “millions” to Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital and a Vancouver Coastal Health Withdrawal Management centre. They also donated $2 million to the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems.

“We also contribute for scholarships and bursaries at University of Victoria and also Royal Roads University,” he said. 

Ratana Stephens told BIV in 2020 that Nature’s Path in the 2010s provided about $27 million in either cash or food donations to charities and food banks across North America. 

SFU is calling the Stephens’ $40-million gift “one of the largest to a school of medicine in Canada.”

The donation is set to support student training, research, innovation, community impact and critical infrastructure, the university said. 

“This is going to impact and benefit British Columbians for generations so we felt that this was a generational gift, and it was very important due to the critical shortage of family physicians in B.C.,” Arran Stephens told BIV.

“There’s a huge need for it. That’s why we responded.”

Indeed, the new school will be the first new medical school in Western Canada in nearly 60 years. 

“It’s a very different approach than most medical schools. This school embodies Indigenous knowledge as well as academic knowledge, and it is getting students right from the get-go into the communities where they’re going to ultimately be practicing as physicians. It embraces a more holistic approach to health and wellness than what is normally taught,” he said.

Indeed, SFU’s vision statement for the new medical school reads in part: “With deep respect for Indigenous wisdom and diverse cultural perspectives, we educate physicians in, with, and for the community, preparing them to become integral parts of their communities and to deliver exceptionally skilled, holistic and culturally safe team-based care.”

SFU President Joy Johnson in a statement called the gift “visionary” and “transformative.”

She added that “we are deeply grateful to Ratana, Arran and their family for their extraordinary generosity, which will enhance the future of medical education and health innovation in B.C.”

Erin Morantz, SFU’s vice-president of advancement and alumni engagement said that the “partnership with the Stephens family enables investments at a significant scale to support primary care research, student spaces, and technology, which will benefit the wellness of our communities for generations to come.”

SFU has been around for 63 years and has campuses in Burnaby, Vancouver and Surrey. With 10 faculties, it delivers 368 undergraduate degree programs and 149 graduate degree programs for more than 37,000 students annually, according to the university. 

Some other large donations in SFU history include a $34.1 million donation from alumnus Lance Uggla in 2020 and $22 million from the Beedie family in 2011.

[email protected]

twitter.com/GlenKorstrom

Bluesky.com/glenkorstrom.bsky.social