Rae to speak at gala honouring student

Omotayo Morrison
Omotayo Morrison

Bob Rae, former premier of Ontario, will deliver the keynote address at a charity gala for establishment of the Omotayo Canadian Medical Champions and Bursary Awards on Saturday, Nov. 28 at Destiny Banquet Hall.
“This is the continuation of the legacy of a young angel (Toronto’s Omotayo Morrison), helping us to help other people in need,” said Gwyn Chapman, youth advisor to Mayor John Tory.
“Our angel pushed his fellow student out of the way of a coming vehicle. He took the brunt of the hit from the car and died of head injuries. He was a true hero and an inspirational figure,” Chapman added.
Chapman is MC for the event and co-chair for the organization named for Morrison who was killed along a highway in St. Lucia. “Please support this wonderful cause, raising funds towards a medical scholarship for students and to assist in the development of a neurosurgical department in St. Jude Hospital where Morrison passed away.” Destiny Banquet Hall is on Steeles Ave. W. in Woodbridge.
Other speakers will include Charles Tator, professor of neurosurgery at U of T, Dr. Howard McCurdy and Arlene Brock.
Plans are afoot to build a neurosurgical wing named in Morrison’s honour at St. Jude Hospital in Vieux Fort in St. Lucia.
The Omotayo Morrison Neurosurgical Foundation was established after the death of Morrison who was a student at Spartan University School of Medicine. He died in Vieux-Fort at the age of 25, succumbing from injuries after he pushed another student out of the way of the car.
Morrison’s mother Modupe Olaogun said the tragedy changed her life, causing her to venture into a new business. “The sense of loss that I felt at the sudden passing of my son is indescribable; my life has been like a roller- coaster. All my thoughts were about Omotayo.”
She now makes jewelry using precious and semi-precious stones and metals which is available for sale. Proceeds will go to the foundation.