A recent birthday bash dubbed The Eye-Ayes Have It, for television journalist Craig Oliver, has raised $100,000 for the University of Ottawa’s W. Bruce Jackson Endowment for Fellowships in Ophthalmology.
Legally blind, Craig, the 70-year-old chief political correspondent and co-anchor of CTV’s weekly public affairs series, Question Period, has long supported the University of Ottawa Eye Institute.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former prime minister Jean Chrétien, CTV chief anchor Lloyd Robertson, CTV Ottawa news anchor Max Keeping and many other journalists and politicians attended the event held at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier on November 19.
“I thought that turning my birthday into a fundraiser would be a good way to start building funds for the fellowships,” said Oliver. The endowment for fellowships in ophthalmology was established this year to recognize Dr. Jackson’s work at the University of Ottawa and at the Eye Institute. He is a professor and past chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University, a past director general of the Eye Institute and The Ottawa Hospital, and the past program director for vision at the Ottawa Health Research Institute.
