Fred De Francesco Receives WICC’s “Lew Dunn Memorial Award”

With over 630 in attendance, Fred De Francesco, principal of Fairview Insurance Brokers was awarded the “Lew Dunn Memorial Award” by the Women in Insurance Cancer Crusade (WICC) at the WICC Ontario 10th Anniversary Annual Fundraising Dinner – “Fueling the Flame’, March 29, 2006 at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto.

The Lew Dunn Memorial Award

The Lew Dunn Memorial Award is in memory of Lew Dunn, who was President of the former CGU Group Canada (now Aviva Canada), until he lost his battle with cancer in 1999. Lew was a highly respected leader in the insurance industry and possessed tremendous business acumen and strong people skills. Known to all as the man you could always call on for help, he will be remembered as a true gentleman. In his memory, CGU made a significant donation to WICC and created the award.

The award in his honour is presented to the volunteer or company demonstrating significant initiative in raising funds and/or awareness in support of WICC – in essence, the WICC ‘volunteer of the year’.

Fred De Francesco and the ‘Night at the Races’

In 2004, Fred De Francesco, principal of Fairview Insurance Brokers collaborated with Bill Blakeney of Blakeney, Henneberry and Murphy (insurance lawyers), to conceptualize an event in support the WICC objective. With the help of a team of solid, devoted volunteers – to rave reviews — they delivered the inaugural “Night at the Races” at Woodbine Racetrack’s trackside tent. In 2004, The Night at the Races was a runaway success donating $17,000 to the WICC objective.

In 2005 Fred and Bill once again hosted the “Night at the Races”. With over 340 in attendance, this event contributed an astonishing $30,000 to WICC, for a cumulative 2-year total of $47,000. The 3rd annual Night at the Races event will take place on Wednesday, September 6th, 2006 at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. In honour of her late husband Lew, Sandy Dunn presented the Lew Dunn Memorial Award to Fred.