TORONTO — The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario has appointed Dr. Steve Gupta, Executive Chairman of The Gupta Group, to the Order of Ontario. This is the province’s highest civilian honour awarded to an Ontarian who has shown the highest level of excellence and achievement in any field, and whose impact has left a lasting legacy in the province, country and around the world.
Gupta immigrated to Ontario from India in 1971 and is now recognized as a leader in the hospitality and condominium industries. Over the last 40 years, he has invested in and developed communities across Ontario for millions of citizens. He began by purchasing a single highway car and truck stop in Port Hope, Ont. in 1978. Since then, he has built The Gupta Group, an award-winning organization with 25 hotels and counting across Ontario and Quebec, two high-rise residential and one commercial properties, with five additional high-rise residential projects under development.
Additionally, he led philanthropic initiatives around the globe. He built Eye Camps in rural India, where more than 50,000 patients have been treated for eye disease, given life-changing surgeries and more. He helped Gujarat after the devastating earthquake and built sanitation systems for girls’ schools. He has also supported the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for more than a decade through sponsoring the Steve and Rashmi Gupta box office. He has also sat on numerous governing boards including Centenary Hospital/Rouge Valley Health System, Ontario College of Pharmacists, and the University of Toronto, to name a select few.
Gupta has received dozens of other awards and honours, including the Skills of Change Entrepreneurship Excellence Award; the Transformation Institute’s Innovation Award; RBC’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award; and Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Ontario (Real Estate and Hotels). He is also a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and Gold Medal, in addition to receiving the prestigious Doctor of Laws honoris causa from Toronto Metropolitan University.
“It is an incredible honour to be appointed to the 2021 Order of Ontario and recognized in this way. When we immigrated here in 1971, I wanted to provide more for my family and am humbled to have played a part, however small, in also helping Ontario communities grow,” says Gupta.
“I have watched my father, since my early childhood years, work so hard to build up The Gupta Group to what it is today. He is an inspiration, a mentor, and a true example of humble excellence,” says Reetu Gupta, Chairwoman and Ambassadress, The Gupta Group.
