Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper (August 11, 1932– October 7, 2003) was a Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate. He was the founder and owner of the now-defunct TV and media company CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CEO and President Leonard Asper, former director and corporate secretary Gail Asper, as well as former Executive Vice President David Asper. He was also the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1970 to 1975 and is credited with the idea and vision to establish the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Personal life and education Israel Asper was born on August 11, 1932, to a Jewish family in Minnedosa, Manitoba, the son of musicians Leon Asper and Cecilia Swet, who had emigrated from Ukraine in the 1920s. He married Ruth Miriam "Babs" Bernstein on May 27, 1956, at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, Winnipeg. Asper attended the University of Manitoba Law School in Winnipeg, where he received his law degree in 1957 and was called to the bar shortly thereafter in July, eventually receiving a Master of Laws in 1964. On October 7, 2003, Asper died in St. Boniface Hospital at the age of 71 after suffering a heart attack. He was buried in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery in Winnipeg in the presence of 1,500 mourners, including Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and leading politicians. Career He founded the firm of Asper, Freedman & Co. in 1959, and was also a partner and co-founder of the firm Buchwald, Asper, Henteleff (now Pitblado LLP) along with Harold Buchwald and Yude Henteleff. In 1970, he wrote The Benson Iceberg: A Critical Analysis of the White Paper on Tax Reform in Canada. Also that year, Asper was elected leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party (defeating university professor John Nesbitt). Asper represented a right-libertarian strain within the party. In the Manitoba election of 1973, he promoted a laissez-faire economy, and advocated the elimination of the welfare state. He also advocated the public financing of election campaigns, to ensure that politics would not be dominated entirely by monied interests. Moreover, as leader of the Manitoba Liberals, he supported the provincial Bill of Rights, and would go on to seek inclusion of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution Act of 1982. His Liberals won only five seats, and Asper was elected in Wolseley by only four votes. He resigned as party leader and MLA in