A Canadian Mining legend passes.

• Position: In memoriam

Mining mogul, entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Munk, founder and chairman emeritus of Barrick Gold, died in Toronto, March 28. He was 90.

He founded Barrick in 1983 and built it into the world's largest gold mining company in less than 25 years.

Born in Budapest in 1927, Munk escaped with family from Nazi-occupied Hungary in 1944 and landed in Toronto at age 20 in 1949.

As an immigrant without social connections or a command of English, Munk felt welcomed by his adopted country and would later profess a lifelong love of Canada in a 2011 remark.

"This is a country that does not ask about your origins but concerns itself with your destiny."

A philanthropist, especially in his later years, Monk donated nearly $300 million to various causes and institutions including the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at the Toronto General Hospital in 1997.

He gave more than $175 million to the hospital, including a $100 million contribution in 2017 that remains the largest single gift ever made to a Canadian hospital.

A graduate of the...