As Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness prepares to honour its 5th anniversary in February, Bob Peacock has good reason to look back with pride. Bob, now Chair of Osler Foundation’s Board of Directors, led the campaign cabinet that brought the new Peel Memorial to life with a successful $30 million fundraising campaign.

“I'm proud that we got it done, that we raised the funds we needed, within the community, in order to move forward,” he says. “I'm certainly proud that the community really got behind it. There was genuine enthusiasm for what Peel was going to do and their focus on wellness and prevention.”

In addition to rallying community support, Bob and his wife, Deb, are personal donors to Osler Foundation, and Deb is an active volunteer on Osler Foundation’s Gala Concert committee, helping to raise additional funds for the hospital system.

Looking back at the grand opening of Peel Memorial in 2017, Deb recalls being struck by the bright, open feel of the new facility. “It was a really nice place to come into,” she says. “And I thought to myself, if you're feeling unwell, you're going to walk in here and you're already going to start to feel better because it's so bright and cheery.”

Among the many notable moments attached to the campaign, Bob recalls the demolition of the old Peel Memorial. “We had sledge hammers and hardhats, and we were swinging at the wall to knock a few bricks out. And I remember (former Ontario premier) Bill Davis got up to speak and he sort of jokingly said to everybody, ‘and Mr. Peacock is going to stand at the exit and you don't get out if you don't give them some money.’”

Bob says with a chuckle that he was tempted to do just that. It’s evidence of his tireless determination to see that his community gets the best possible health care.

“There's no question that we've come a very long way in the past 10 or 15 years in terms of building Brampton Civic and then Peel,” he says. “But there's no question we need more. And being able to have the new Peel open would provide some relief for Brampton Civic.”

Bob and Deb can’t say enough about the Health Care Heroes who make Osler hospitals great. “I’m incredibly thankful for their dedication and everything they've done, especially in the past couple of years to navigate us through COVID as safely as could be done,” Deb says.

“They're going above and beyond every day,” adds Bob. “We're blessed as a community to have not just the facilities that we have, but I've gotten to know some of the staff and the doctors and nurses a little bit and they're just really great people who genuinely want to do what's best for their patients and really want to help find new ways to deal with disease.”

Bob, who is also the CEO of family-owned Almag Aluminum, doesn’t rest on his laurels for long. There is still plenty of work to be done to ensure health care keeps pace with the growing community.

“I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't say to anyone who will listen, remember how fortunate we've been over the past five years by having Peel here,” Bob says. “And keep in mind that an expanding community needs more health care and we can't do it just on government funding alone. We have a responsibility and it's a requirement that the community chip in.”