Ronald D. Ghitter CM QC is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and human rights advocate. Born on August 22, 1935, in Calgary, Alberta, he was raised in Edmonton and earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1956 and Bachelor of Laws in 1959 from the University of Alberta. He practiced real estate law in Calgary under the firm Ghitter and Company for 25 years and entered politics as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party, winning the Calgary-Buffalo riding in the 1971 Alberta general election by defeating Calgary Stampeders star Don Luzzi. As an MLA from 1971 to 1979, he sponsored Alberta's first human rights legislation, the Individual Rights Protection Act, in 1972, and was known for critiquing government decisions, such as the purchase of Pacific Western Airlines and the use of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund. He was re-elected in 1975 and chaired the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding in 1984, investigating antisemitism and intolerance in education following the James Keegstra scandal. After retiring from provincial politics, Ghitter ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1985, placing third behind Don Getty. He then served as Executive Vice President of Development at Trizec Corporation from 1986 to 1988, later established Ron Ghitter Property Consultant Inc., co-founded Certus Developments Inc. in 1993, and served as a director of Bentall Corporation for 16 years, seven as chair. He was Chairman of the Arts and Culture section of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics and a founding director of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. Appointed to the Senate of Canada by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on March 25, 1993, as an Alberta Progressive Conservative Senator, he chaired the Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources from 1996 to 1999, before resigning on March 31, 2000. A lifelong tennis enthusiast, Ghitter was a Provincial Alberta Junior Tennis Champion for three years, captain of the University of Alberta tennis team, served on the Board of Tennis Canada, and was instrumental in founding the OSTEN & VICTOR Alberta Tennis Centre, serving as its Chairman until 2023. He was inducted into Tennis Canada's Hall of Fame (builder category) in 2022 and received Tennis Canada's Distinguished Service Award in 2016. In 2019, he founded the Friends of Ron Ghitter Fund to support Calgary youth tennis players. As a Jewish Canadian, Ghitter has been a lifelong advocate for human rights, co-founding the Dignity Forum in 2022, a charitable organization combating discrimination and promoting human rights in Alberta, and continuing to combat antisemitism into his late 80s. He and his wife Myrna have established the Ron Ghitter Award in Human Rights at the University of Calgary and the Ron Ghitter CM Scholarship Fund through the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association. His many honours include the Alberta Human Rights Award in 1990, the Gerald L. Gall Human Rights Award in 2012, appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2018, an honorary doctorate from Mount Royal University in 2024, and the Top 7 over 70 Award in 2023. His career spans government, business, real estate development, policy-making, and advocacy, and he remains active in public discourse, as evidenced by recent interviews addressing contemporary issues like antisemitism in Canada.