| Helen Gardiner | |
| Birth Date: | 18 July 1938 |
| Birth Place: | Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada |
| Death Place: | Caledon East, Ontario, Canada |
| Resting Place: | Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto |
| Occupation: | Art Collector, Philanthropist |
| Known For: | Gardiner Museum |
| Spouse: | George R. Gardiner |
| Children: | 1 |
| Awards: | Order of Canada (2007) |
Helen Elsie Elizabeth Gardiner[1] (née McMinn) (July 18, 1938 – July 22, 2008) was a Canadian philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto, Ontario.
Helen Gardiner was born in 1938 in the Northern mining town of Kirkland Lake to a working family. She later moved to Toronto where her father was employed by General Electric.[2] In 1974, she began attending York University as a mature student, and in 1979, she travelled to London, England to study at Christie's Education.[3]
Helen was married to prominent Toronto businessman George R. Gardiner, with whom she co-founded the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art.[4] Between 1976 and 1984, George and Helen built a distinctive collection of approximately 1,200 objects in a few carefully selected areas that were collected in depth: ancient Central and South American vessels and figures; tin glazed pottery of the Italian Renaissance; seventeenth-century English pottery; and eighteenth-century European porcelain.[5]
In 1981, the Ontario government unanimously passed Bill 183 to establish the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art as an independent, public institution.[6] It was officially opened in 1984 on the grounds of Victoria University, Toronto.[5] "George and I built the museum and gave our collection to the people of Canada, but it was our hope that the Gardiner Museum would contribute in a meaningful way to the understanding and appreciation of ceramic art worldwide."[7]
Helen was awarded the Order of Canada in 2007.
She died of pancreatic cancer in 2008 at her home in Caledon.[3]