{"id":5725,"date":"2016-03-15T08:44:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T13:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=5725"},"modified":"2016-03-14T17:15:01","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T22:15:01","slug":"canadian-mennonite-university-to-present-art-defehr-with-cmu-pax-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2016\/canadian-mennonite-university-to-present-art-defehr-with-cmu-pax-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Mennonite University to present Art DeFehr with CMU PAX Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furniture magnate honoured for leading exemplary life of service, leadership, and reconciliation<\/em><\/h3>\n

Canadian Mennonite University will present its CMU PAX Award to renowned Winnipeg businessman Art DeFehr.<\/p>\n

In addition to his work as CEO of Palliser Furniture, a business active in the residential furniture market, DeFehr\u2019s interest in international affairs has led him to make significant contributions abroad over the past 45 years.<\/p>\n

CMU President Dr. Cheryl Pauls will present the award to DeFehr on Thursday, April 7 at A Fresh Look at CMU: A Spring Evening Fundraiser in support of Canadian Mennonite University<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"2016-03-11<\/a>\u201cArt DeFehr has brought a formidable depth of imagination and commitment to many of the world\u2019s most complex humanitarian concerns,\u201d Pauls says. \u201cWe honour him for the range of peoples and organizations that he has brought to together to make good change possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CMU PAX Award was created to respect\u00a0people who lead exemplary and exceptional lives of service, leadership, and reconciliation in church and society.<\/p>\n

DeFehr says he is humbled and honoured to receive the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mennonite community has had many examples of individuals and groups who have contributed to peace and a better world, and it is very special to be considered among them,\u201d DeFehr says.<\/p>\n

Born in Winnipeg to immigrant parents, DeFehr studied commerce at the University of Manitoba. After graduation, he moved to the United States and earned a BA in Economics from Goshen College in Indiana and a MBA from Harvard Business School.<\/p>\n

His years studying in the US included involvement with the civil rights movement, and as a pacifist, concern about the Vietnam War influenced DeFehr\u2019s views and his career.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Harvard in 1967, DeFehr joined his family\u2019s furniture business and remains involved to this day.<\/p>\n

Since 1984, DeFehr has worked as CEO. Palliser Furniture is primarily a producer and marketer of upholstered furniture with production facilities in Canada and Mexico, marketing throughout North America.<\/p>\n

DeFehr\u2019s success as CEO of Palliser has allowed him to focus on his passion for international affairs. His extensive travel has brought him to more than 125 countries.<\/p>\n

In the 1970s, DeFehr worked with Mennonite Central Committee to lead a massive agricultural redevelopment project in Bangladesh after its civil war. From 1981-82, he worked in Somalia as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.<\/p>\n

DeFehr also started a university in Lithuania in the dying days of the former Soviet Union, and he helped organize, host, and fund a conflict resolution conference in Myanmar in 2013.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, DeFehr has headed refugee programs in Canada and helped spearhead Manitoba\u2019s immigration program, which has brought thousands of immigrants to the province since the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

DeFehr has been active with Habitat for Humanity since its inception, and he was the founding chairperson of the board of Canadian Foodgrains Bank.<\/p>\n

He also played an active role in the formation of CMU and continues to make a significant contribution to the university\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

\u201cCMU provides a source of leadership in both action and thought,\u201d DeFehr says. \u201cCMU also demonstrates to the rest of Canada and the other churches that the Mennonite community is serious about its theology, and interested in being and remaining relevant in our changing world.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeFehr\u2019s business acumen and humanitarian efforts have earned him a number of awards: He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Manitoba, and was named to the Manitoba Business Hall of Fame in 2015.<\/p>\n

Last year, DeFehr and his wife, Leona, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They have two adopted daughters and four grandchildren.<\/p>\n

A Fresh Look at CMU: A Spring Evening in Support of Canadian Mennonite University<\/em> is an event of story, song, and food in support of CMU. All are welcome to attend. Please RSVP by Sunday, March 20 by emailing jfriesen@cmu.ca or phoning 204.594.0517.<\/p>\n

The event takes place at CMU (500 Shaftesbury Blvd.) from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM.<\/p>\n

About CMU<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU\u2019s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as\u00a0graduate degrees in theology,\u00a0ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent\u00a0students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.<\/em><\/p>\n

For information about CMU visit <\/em>www.cmu.ca<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

For additional information, please contact:
\nKevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
\nkkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
\nCanadian Mennonite University
\n500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB\u00a0 R3P 2N2<\/p>\n

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Furniture magnate honoured for leading exemplary life of service, leadership, and reconciliation Canadian Mennonite University will present its CMU PAX Award to renowned Winnipeg businessman Art DeFehr. In addition to his work as CEO of Palliser Furniture, a business active in the residential furniture market, DeFehr\u2019s interest in international affairs has led him to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25,5],"tags":[751,750,626],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5725"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5731,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions\/5731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}