MARK AND SUZANNE GAYN

Mark (1909–1981) and Suzanne (1921–2020) Gayn established a remarkable legacy at the University of Toronto that commemorates and advances their enduring passion for Chinese, Russian and former Soviet history, politics, art and culture.

Mark and Suzanne Gayn shared a deep passion for travel, journalism and East Asian art and culture, and led extraordinary lives. Their legacy will inspire generations of University of Toronto students to make their own mark in the world.

Born in Hungary in 1921, Suzanne Gayn—born Suzanne Lengvary—established a successful career as an actress throughout the 1940s, appearing in numerous feature films, commercials and print advertisements. Mark Gayn was a renowned foreign correspondent who spent the early years of his career working in Shanghai for the Washington Post and the American-run Chinese Press. At the outset of the Second World War, he returned to the United States where he had attended Columbia University’s prestigious School of Journalism in the 1930s.

In 1950, Suzanne Lengvary met Mark Gayn while he was on assignment in Paris. In 1952, the Gayns moved to Toronto; there, Mark worked for several major publications before joining the Toronto Star in 1959, where he stayed until his death in 1981.

After her husband’s passing, Suzanne Gayn generously donated an extensive collection of his archival materials from his years as a foreign correspondent to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto Libraries. Known as the Mark Gayn Papers, the collection includes films, diaries, letters, correspondence, lectures and handwritten notes. She also donated a significant portion of the couple’s collection of Chinese Cultural Revolution photographs, artwork and propaganda materials.

Upon her own passing in 2020, Gayn left a transformational gift to the university to establish scholarships and awards in her late husband, Mark Gayn’s name, in Chinese, Soviet or Russian studies, where four such student awards have been created in the Faculty of Arts & Science Playing a crucial role in alleviating financial barriers to education, the awards will allow students to focus on their studies in areas that were close to the Gayns’ hearts and flourish as emerging scholars.

Through their extraordinary contributions to the University of Toronto, the Gayns’ remarkable lives and enduring passion for the study of Chinese, Russian and former Soviet history, politics, art and culture will live on through the success of new generations of students and researchers inspired to follow in their footsteps.