Obituary of Jacqueline Fanchette Clotilde Shumiatcher

Please click here to view the livestream of the service

Jacqueline Fanchette Clotilde Clay Shumiatcher, CM, SOM, a Canadian philanthropist, arts patron, and art collector who was awarded the Order of Canada, passed away peacefully on February 1, 2021. She was 97.

Jacqui and her late husband, Dr. Morris C. Shumiatcher, OC, SOM, QC, began supporting the arts community in Regina after their marriage in 1955. She contributed time and money to individual artists and to a wide range of cultural institutions, including the University of Regina, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina’s Globe Theatre, the YWCA, the Regina Humane Society, the Regina Little Theatre, New Dance Horizons, Juventus Choir, the Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan, Do it With Class Young People’s Theatre Company, Regina Lyric Musical Theatre, Prairie Opera, and Opera Saskatchewan.

The Shumiatchers were known for their passion for Inuit sculpture and paintings/sculptures by a multitude of Canadian artists including those by the Regina Five which they began collecting in the mid-1950s. Through acquisitions and gifts that they gave to each other, the collection grew to include an estimated 2,000 pieces of art from every corner of the world. In 2014, Jacqui donated the bulk of their collection, worth an estimated $3.5 million, to the University of Regina. Numerous pieces of the collection are on public display at the University of Regina Main and College Avenue campuses.

Jacqui was born on April 29, 1923 in Vendin-le-Vieil, Pas de Calais, France.  Her British-born father Archibald Clay moved to Canada and a short time later Jacqui, her mother Rose, and older brother Pierre “Pat” Clay followed him to the North Central neighbourhood of Regina in 1927.

It was a neighbourhood of dirt roads and wooden sidewalks. The family had no running water, telephone, or car. “We may have been classified as underprivileged by some, but we never thought of ourselves in that way,” Jacqui has said, “We were happy with what we had.”

Jacqui attended Kitchener Elementary School and graduated from Scott Collegiate high school in Regina. In 1940, she got her first job teaching shorthand and typing at the Sacred Heart Academy on 13th Avenue for $1 a day. She later moved to the audit department of Simpsons Department Store. In 1942, she took a job at the Regina airport checking weather instruments and relaying messages.

In 1947, Jacqui applied for a job with Morris “Shumy” Shumiatcher, legal counsel to Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas, and became his secretary. Shumy was an accomplished lawyer and drafted the 1947 Saskatchewan Bill of Rights, the first such bill in the British Commonwealth.

After Shumy left the government, she continued to assist him in overseeing his affairs while he was out of town. When he returned to Regina to set up his law office, they began dating. After their marriage, she founded Managerial Services Ltd. to supply secretarial and managerial help for Shumy’s successful legal practice. Shumy considered Jacqui the most extraordinary person in his life and described her as his mentor and inspiration. The couple had no children. An accomplished French cook, Jacqui and Shumy entertained lavishly at their home on College Avenue, where their guests over the years included premiers, Governor Generals and Lieutenant Governors of Saskatchewan. During a visit to Canada, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson stayed at their home.

“Jacqui was a remarkable conversationalist, always with something interesting to say and always interested in other people’s lives and achievements,” Ronald Kessler, a New York Times bestselling author and Shumy’s only nephew, said. “Above all, Jacqui loved Lake O’Hara in the Rockies, where she and Shumy, as he was known, would stay and bring me along when I was a teenager. Always devoted to Shumy, she was a partner in everything he did and a star in her own right.”

Jacqui believed in sharing the wealth, something she said she learned as a child: “As far as giving, my mom said that if I had a toy or two toys, and somebody didn’t have any, I’d give them the toy,” she once said. “And same with candies. If I had candies, I’d give the candies to everybody, and I wouldn’t have any left for myself.”

Jacqui was included in the 2017 appointments to the Order of Canada, which recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community, and service to the nation. When presenting her with the insignia of member of the Order of Canada at a November 9, 2017 ceremony at the Conexus Arts Centre, Vaughn Solomon Schofield, Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, called Jacqui’s philanthropic record “legendary.”

“For decades, through her generosity and personal involvement, she has played a significant role in developing and supporting a diverse range of cultural and social organizations,” Schofield said on behalf of the Governor General of Canada. “Her sustained philanthropy has contributed to the vitality of the province’s arts and culture scene.”

Jacqui was also a member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit and in 2002, the University of Regina granted her an honorary doctorate degree. 

Always modest, Jacqui noted to an interviewer, “I’m not an artist, and I’m not a musician, I’m not any of these things, but I can appreciate. I think that’s probably why I’m living on, because I get so much joy from other people’s work and achievements.”

Jacqui Shumiatcher supported many charitable organizations, and it was her wish that any memorial tribute be made to a charity of your choice.

The Regina Bell Ringers, at Knox Metropolitan Church, will perform a Bell Memorial to honour Jacqui, on Thursday, February 11, 2021 starting at 12:50 p.m. Due to Covid-19, a private funeral service will follow at 1:30 p.m. To view the livestream of the service please click on the link above.