Ruby Mercer

Ruby Mercer (26 July 1906 – 26 January 1999) was an American-born Canadian soprano, author, and radio host whose career spanned Broadway performance, opera, broadcasting, and arts journalism. Born in Athens, Ohio, she earned a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio University in 1927 and a Bachelor of Music from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 1930.

Mercer performed on Broadway between 1931 and 1942, appearing in productions that included the musicals The New Moon and Forbidden Melody, as well as La Parisienne and Jack and the Beanstalk. In 1934 she won first prize in the Naumburg Competition, and two years later she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of Nedda in Pagliacci. She married Hungarian-Canadian businessman Geza Por and relocated to Toronto in 1958.

Following her move to Canada, Mercer became a significant figure in the country's operatic and cultural life. She founded Opera Canada, a periodical devoted to opera, and served as its editor from 1960 to 1990. She also founded the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus and held the position of its first president. From 1962 to 1979 she hosted Opera Time, a weekly program on CBC Radio, and subsequently hosted its successor series, Opera in Stereo, from 1979 to 1984.

As a writer, Mercer authored The Tenor of His Time, a biography of tenor Edward Johnson published in Toronto in 1976, and The Quilicos – Louis, Gino and Lina, published in Oakville in 1990. She contributed articles to the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, Musical America, and Opera News, and wrote columns and reviews for Opera Canada.

Among the honors she received were an Honorary Doctor of Music from Ohio University in 1978, the Canadian Music Council medal in 1983, the Toronto Arts Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 1988, and an Honorary LL.D. from the University of Toronto in 1995. That same year she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.