Entrepreneur Steven Levy launched shows that influenced craft, fashion and design

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Toronto serial entrepreneur Steven Levy could put on a show. He launched what is now called the One of a Kind Show in 1975 and the Interior Design Show in 1999, both of which are still running. He also started other consumer and trade shows, including INSPIRE! Toronto International Book Fair, the Schools and Skills Show and the Festival of Canadian Fashion.

“He was a showman and an entrepreneur, and he knew what a good show looked like. Really importantly, he knew what it should feel like,” says Phillip Ing, whom Mr. Levy recruited from a small, club-level fashion show in the 1980s to run the Festival of Canadian Fashion.

Mr. Levy, who had a PhD in social policy research but devoted much of his career to orchestrating art and design events, made significant contributions to Canadian culture. His One Of A Kind Show, for example, supported artisans by giving them a large-scale market for their wares, connecting them with customers excited about their creations.

“There were very limited opportunities at that time; you couldn’t just go onto Etsy,” his daughter, Shauna Levy, says, referring to the popular e-commerce site for crafts that started in 2005, three decades after the One of a Kind Show began.

One master’s thesis written in 2017 credited the show with professionalizing the Canadian craft industry.

The Festival of Canadian Fashion, which Mr. Levy started in 1986, also had a significant impact in that it helped nurture a heyday for Canadian clothing designers. Previously, Ms. Levy says, large-scale fashion events had been industry-only.

“What he wanted to do was create an opportunity for the public to see what was going on in the fashion world,” she said.

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The first edition featured 27 fashion shows in three days, with high-profile models such as Linda Evangelista and Monika Schnarre. It ran for five years before Mr. Levy sold it to the City of Toronto. The event soon died out, but it led the way for Toronto Fashion Week and the fundraiser Fashion Cares, according to Ms. Levy.

The Interior Design Show, which was put together by Mr. Levy and his daughter, was a hit out of the gate with 25,000 attendees for its inaugural event. It now takes place annually in Vancouver and Toronto.

Mr. Levy died on Jan. 26 from an infection; a kidney transplant years earlier had compromised his immune system, leaving him susceptible to infections. He was 80.

The organizers of the Interior Design Show wrote of him on social media: “Steven was a true visionary, dynamic and revolutionary. He championed Canadian culture and will be remembered for his trailblazing impact on the art, craft and design communities.”

Consumer shows are complex to launch and produce. “Problems weren’t problems for him, they were challenges. He loved fixing something and making it better,” his younger brother, Jason Levy, said.

While Steven often launched shows based on what he was passionate about, such as design, gardening and yoga, it was his interest in people that inspired him, according to his daughter.

“I was just looking at a bunch of photos of him from the various shows and he just looks so happy. He was in his element. He loved being around people, he loved the interaction,” she says.

Steven Levy would often stay calm and smile even in the most high-pressure moments. He was a high-energy person who “dared to dream big,” Mr. Ing says. His mentorship launched many careers. “He was persistent, he was positive and a great entrepreneur.”

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Steven Stanley Levy was born on April 5, 1944, in Montreal to Anne (née Kerr) and Lionel Levy, both first-generation Canadians of Russian Jewish heritage. The elder Mr. Levy worked as a furrier and the family eventually included three sons: David, Steven and Jason.

Jason says the family had little and lived very modestly, but Steven, 15 years his senior, was not content with a simple life. “He showed me there was more to life, and it could be exciting. Challenges were fun, the unknown was fun.”

He was high-energy in those early days, too, with his mother quipping, “The grass doesn’t grow under Stevie’s feet,” according to Mr. Levy’s daughter.

While studying psychology at McGill University, friend Stephen Lack – whom he met in a class and bonded with, quoting Lenny Bruce – was being rushed by a fraternity. Mr. Levy had a better idea: He rented two adjoining hotel rooms, got booze and a record player and hosted a party.

“It was really personal and intimate and at the same time, almost out of control. He was so good at getting people together and getting them out of their comfort zone,” says Mr. Lack, who eventually quit the fraternity and helped host as many as 10 parties.

Mr. Levy was completing his master’s in social work when he married Bonnie Issenman in 1966. The family grew to include Shauna and Adam. In 1974, they moved from Montreal to Toronto, where he began his PhD, did social work and, over the next decade, launched two research companies.

In 1975, his friend, jeweller June Bibby, lamented a lack of venues to sell her creations. They and lawyer Martin Rumack, over three harried months, put together the Canadian Craft Show (later renamed the One of a Kind Show). It began as a Christmas show and has since expanded to a twice-a-year event.

By the mid-1980s, Mr. Levy wrapped up his research work and devoted himself to vendor and consumer shows, launching the Festival of Canadian Fashion in 1986.

Mr. Levy and his first wife divorced and in 1988, he married Laura Cope, a designer, who later helped develop the Interior Design Show. They had a son, Jacob, and purchased a property in the Kawarthas.

“It was 100 acres. My dad did nothing small, everything was always big. He built a house and they had gardens that went on forever and he was constantly in the garden and obsessed with growing garlic,” Ms. Levy says. That experience later led him to launch a garden show, which ran for a few years.

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In the early 2000s, Mr. Levy sold most of his shows to Merchandise Mart Properties, then worked for them, running many of the shows and acquiring more, including the Artist Project and Art Toronto. When the company sold many of those shows to Informa Canada, Mr. Levy went along, serving as president of that company, and then he went out on his own again.

Around this time, he was diagnosed with lymphoma, became a vegetarian and got deeply into yoga – that’s when he launched the Yoga Show and Conference.

Mr. Levy married for a third time in 2011, to Michelle de los Santos. It took him two tries to fully retire – the first time, he ended up launching new shows – but he finally embraced a different pace, focusing on his many passions and hobbies, which included writing, photography, gardening and travelling.

“He was always on the move, he was always looking for the next idea,” Ms. Levy says.

Mr. Levy leaves his wife, two brothers, three children, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

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