Sid Stevens, co-founder of Montreal's Sun Youth, dies at 85

CBC

3 days ago

At the age of 13, Sid Stevens started selling handwritten newspapers in Montreal for two cents each, using the funds to buy sports equipment and organize activities for other local children.
That was more than 70 years ago, in 1954, and his dedication to the community only grew from there.
He went on to co-found Sun Youth, a Montreal-based community organization, where he stayed involved for decade after decade, helping 30,000 Montrealers of all ages every year.
Stevens died Sunday, surrounded by loved ones, at the age of 85.
"No matter how much you prepare yourself for it, you're never really prepared to deal with this," said Johanne Saltarelli, Sun Youth's director general, in an interview. "We are missing our mentor, our friend — the person who guided us."
Saltarelli has been working at Sun Youth for 50 years, getting to know Stevens as a man who was "very well-respected. People knew they could count on him if ever they needed help and those are the principles that he taught us."
An obituary on Sun Youth's website pays tribute to Stevens's legacy of "generosity, solidarity and community engagement." The organization provides food, clothing, emergency services and youth programs.
"He spent most of his life in his office, making sure we were helping Montrealers," said Saltarelli, noting Stevens also dove into Montreal politics, elected to council in 1978. He was avant-garde, she added, "way beyond his years."
Stevens was made a member of the Ordre de Montréal and the Ordre national du Québec in recent years for his dedication to youth and his community.
Leaning on the press for publicity
David Birnbaum, former member of the National Assembly of Quebec, nominated Stevens for the provincial award.
"He really left us all a wonderful legacy," said Birnbaum, citing the number of people helped by Sun Youth every year.
Virtually every volunteer or employee of Sun Youth throughout its existence has been somebody whose life was improved or saved by Stevens or co-founder Earl De La Perralle, he said.
Birnbaum recalled his days working at the Montreal Gazette in the 1980s. Nearly every Sunday evening, Stevens would give him a call because he knew there was always a news shortage on the weekends, he said.
"Very often you would see Sun Youth on the front page because of Sid and his innovation and his audacity and his determination," said Birnbaum.
Now, the team at Sun Youth has taken his values to heart, and that's to give back, help others "and you give people a leg up," he said.
On X, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said she was sad to learn that Stevens had died. She said "he built an organization in service of the people of Montreal. My thoughts are with his friends and family."
Moving into a new building, continuing mission
Tommy Kulczyk, president and CEO of the Breakfast Club of Canada, worked and collaborated with Stevens for roughly 35 years. He said working at Sun Youth meant expecting a pay decrease depending on funding, but staff stayed dedicated to the mission.
"Because we had an example. I'd look 10 feet from my office, and Sid was there six or seven days a week, morning to night," said Kulczyk. "You don't work at a place like Sun Youth. You're part of it. It's a way of life. And that's what we were taught."
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He said Stevens was there for the best moments of your life and the worst, and "what he taught us, basically, is to care and to anticipate and to be constant. And most of all, to not be afraid to laugh at yourself."
Sun Youth is moving into a brand new building in 2026, and Stevens played a role in that transition into a bigger, better space, Saltarelli said. It's a shame he won't see that, she added, but the mission will continue for decades to come, offering a wide range of services and feeding families every day.
"We will continue what he started, and we will make sure, as we have done to date, to keep doing it with passion, to be grassroots, to make sure we are there to answer the call for whatever the people need," said Saltarelli. "And if we don't have that expertise, we will advise them and give them the resources."
Sun Youth is strong today because Stevens was a great leader, she said, and "we will just continue doing what we do."