Alma Ricard

Alma Ricard OC, née Vézina (October 4, 1906 – June 2, 2003) was a Canadian broadcaster and philanthropist. A partner with her husband F. Baxter Ricard in his broadcasting holdings, including Northern Cable and Mid-Canada Communications, after her husband's death in 1993 she became a prominent donor to institutional and educational charities.

Born in Montreal, she moved to Sudbury in 1931 after accepting a job as a secretary at the hardware store operated by Baxter Ricard's father Félix. She later married Baxter Ricard, and the couple took over the hardware store before moving into broadcasting with the launch of CHNO in 1947. Their broadcast holdings later expanded to include CFBR in 1957, Northern Cable in the early 1970s, and CJMX-FM and the MCTV television system in 1980; they were also shareholders in the Toronto-area cable and broadcasting company CUC Broadcasting. She also served on Sudbury's municipal urban planning committee, and on the board of directors of the Sudbury General Hospital.

Beginning in 1990, the Ricards began selling off their broadcast holdings, with the television stations acquired by Baton Broadcasting and the radio stations acquired by Pelmorex. The Ricards had no children to inherit their wealth, and began to plan a charitable foundation, which was formally launched after Baxter's death as the Fondation Baxter & Alma Ricard.

The foundation's beneficiaries included Cambrian College,Laurentian University and the Sudbury General Hospital, although her donation to the hospital — which had been earmarked for the purchase of an MRI machine — was withdrawn after the government of Mike Harris announced that the hospital would be merged into the Sudbury Regional Hospital and the MRI machine would be delivered to the formerly competing Laurentian Hospital instead.

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