Dora de Pedery-Hunt

Dora de Pédery-Hunt, LL.D. (16 November 1913 – 29 September 2008) was a Hungarian-Canadian sculptor who designed over 600 medals and coins. She was the first Canadian citizen to sculpt the image of Queen Elizabeth II that appeared on Canadian coins between 1990 and 2003.

Life Dora de Pédery was born in Budapest, Hungary on 16 November 1913 to Attila and Emilia de Pédery. Her father, Attila, was a scientist and a talented pianist, and her mother regularly sang and told stories to Dora and her two sisters. The family focused on music, schooling, and reading, and the children were encouraged to cultivate their ambitions and talents. Dora initially studied physics, medicine and architecture before choosing art as her intended vocation at the age of 24.

After German forces occupied Hungary in March 1944, her family decided to flee west to Helmstedt, Germany,

Five years later, through the sponsorship of Major Thomas S. Chutter and his family, she immigrated to Canada. She arrived in Toronto and worked as a family's live-in housekeeper for a year. She then became a high school art teacher, a job for which she often walked eight kilometres. She also did odd jobs such as "painting designs on children's furniture, cleaning artists' studios and making Christmas decorations for friends and gift shops." On numerous occasions, she represented Canada as a Delegate to the International Art Medal Federation FIDEM, with which she was affiliated since 1965. She had various other affiliations: She was elected to the Sculptors Society of Canada in 1953. She was also a member of the Hungarian Society of Applied Art and the Hungarian Women's Fine Art Association.

She created the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II that was used on Canadian coinage in 1990.

Her medal design of Sir Donald Alexander Smith was used by Canada Post as a six cent postage stamp. Two of her portraits of Dr. Frances Loring are in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

Royal Canadian Mint coins Besides the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, various Royal Canadian Mint gold coins with a face value of one hundred dollars were designed.

Notable medallions Inco 1st nickel production medallion: Thompson, Manitoba, Canada (1961) Susanna and the Elders (1961) The A. J. Casson Award for the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, in 1991. With the collaboration of the Toronto Historical Society, she designed a medal for the city of Toronto's bicentennial in *1993. The Ontario Association of Architects' Raymore Medal, given each year to the intern architect attaining the highest marks on the annual professional licensure exams. Norman Bethune Medal for presentation to China by Justin Trudeau in 2016.

Awards de Pédery-Hunt's awards include: Centennial Medal (1967) Honorary LL.D., York University (1983)