‘He wanted to give back’: Philanthropist, ex-Oilers owner Saville dies at 80

Edmonton businessman Bruce Saville is being remembered for his philanthropy. CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa has more on his impact on the city.

A one-time co-owner of the city’s professional hockey team and a prolific local philanthropist has passed away.

Bruce Saville died on Monday aged 80 from a heart attack following back surgery.

The Toronto native was an avid sports fan and “loved to help people,” Cathy King, his wife, told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday.

“He loved to try to mentor people to do bigger things, any kind of thing,” said King, a Canadian curling great.

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Saville worked as a systems analyst in Ontario before moving to Edmonton, where in 1982, he founded the software company Saville Systems. The firm that developed a billing system for global telecommunications companies grew to employ 1,700 employees by the time he sold it in 1999.

The father of four was one of the three principal owners in the Edmonton Investors Group that bought the Edmonton Oilers out of receivership from Peter Pocklington in 1998 before the group sold the National Hockey League team 10 years later to current owner Daryl Katz.

King said hockey was one of Saville’s “loves,” which paved the way to his eventual purchase that kept Pocklington from selling the club to U.S. interests that would’ve seen the NHL team south of the border.

“Bruce grew up playing hockey. He was a goalie for 57 years. That was his love,” King said. “I think when you look at someone who is wealthy enough to help out and to save a major team in the city, that was important to him, and I’m glad several others thought the same.”

Saville was a firm supporter of the sale of the team to Katz, who closed the deal to buy the team from the EIG for $200 million in February 2008.

After selling Saville Systems, he established the Saville Interest Group – “He never stopped working,” King said – and involved himself in philanthropy, serving as a board member for several groups, including Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital, the Inner City Agencies Foundation, the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation, the United Way Campaign Cabinet, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and the University of Alberta.

It was the latter institution to which he made donations that helped the post-secondary school build the Saville Community Sports Centre on its south campus.

King, who met Saville in 1997 when he sponsored her curling team, said of all his philanthropic efforts, he was most passionate about “helping the homeless.”

“Bruce came from nothing,” she said. “He was the middle child, and they didn’t have much. I think he remembered that all through his life and wanted to help people. When he did become wealthy, he wanted to give back.”

That included the Mac and Cheese Luncheon – now known as the Rotary Club of Edmonton’s Step Up To The Plate – which raises money for inner city agencies.

“I think he did the Mac and Cheese raising money every year to help the homeless, and that was amazing,” King said. “He’d bug all his friends to buy the tables and be able to serve. Then he’d grab all the curlers and the hockey players and the football players to help serve on another day when he would go serve the homeless. He wanted to make it a special event for them, too.”

Friend Lyle Best said a major lesson he learned from Saville was to become involved in an effort you believed in, not just to provide funding.

“‘Don’t just write a check, make sure you include yourself,’” Best said. “That was the way I ran my company for so many years. We never just wrote a check -- for QuikCard Minor Hockey Week or whatever -- and Bruce would support me in all of those different things ... I’m sure I dragged my family around to a lot of things that they probably would have rather not done, but it was important that (they saw it.)

“I have three sons, and they’re all very generous and caring people, and I think that they saw that from guys like Bruce and myself, who just really relish the community.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa