Thomas O. Hecht was born in Czechoslovakia in 1929 and escaped from Europe during World War II, arriving in Canada in 1942. He was educated at the High School of Montreal and pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies at Concordia and McGill universities.

Thomas Hecht subsequently lectured for nine years at Concordia University in the field of International Relations, Political Philosophy and Comparative Government, and has since lectured at several North American universities. He is a world traveller and is proficient in six languages.

In 1956, he joined the family owned pharmaceutical company, Continental Pharma, started by his father in Czechoslovakia in 1929. Thomas Hecht succeeded his father as President in 1958. Under his direction, Continental Pharma Cryosan Inc. became an important international health care products and medical research company operating in Canada, the United States and Europe. Mr. Hecht's activities have had a major impact on the orientation and direction of the world's plasma-based health care industry. Thomas Hecht is today Chairman Emeritus of the successor company, IBEX Technologies Inc., a significant Canadian biotechnology company.

Thomas Hecht's activities in the wider communal world started in the early 1950's by his being involved in various health and social welfare agencies and becoming the president of the Montreal-based well-being clinic, the Montreal Herzl Health Centre. He was also active in the Combined Jewish Appeal and became the youngest chairman in its history in 1970.

In 1964, he founded the Maimonides Lodge of B'nai Brith and was awarded the Jewish Community Services Citation as the Outstanding Young Jewish Communal Leader.

During the 1973 Middle East Yom Kippur War, as President of the United Israel Appeal of Canada, Thomas Hecht represented Canada on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency.

In 1978, the Presidential Council of the Herzl Prize in Israel awarded Thomas Hecht the coveted Herzl Prize for his dedicated public service on behalf of the State of Israel. In the 1980s, Thomas Hecht was President of the Israel Bond Organization in Canada for a period of five years, and was awarded Israel's 40th Anniversary Gold Medal. Thomas Hecht also chaired the commission for the implementation of educational priorities in the Montreal Jewish community. In recognition of his exceptional participation in community wide activities, the Government of Canada awarded Thomas Hecht the Queen's Jubilee Medal. In 1987, the Montreal Jewish community awarded Thomas Hecht the Samuel Bronfman Medal, its highest recognition for communal involvement and leadership.

In 1993, he founded the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, a policy oriented think tank on issues affecting security and peace in the Middle East. He is the chairman of its International Advisory Committee.

He has been President of the Canada-Israel Committee for 15 years, bringing Israel awareness to the community at large in Quebec.

He is also the recipient of two doctorates Honoris Causa, awarded by the Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva and Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan.

Thomas Hecht has been particularly involved in the rapprochement of cultural communities in Quebec with the francophone community, initiating a number of exchange programs, visits, colloquia and dialogues between Quebec opinion makers, cultural communities, and Israel. His activism led to the signing of an entente establishing cultural, scientific and academic exchanges between Quebec universities and research centers and their Israeli counterparts. Concomitantly, Thomas Hecht has played a pivotal role in striving for a membership in the francophonie for Israel, and its involvement in the organization of French-speaking parliamentarians.

Mr. Hecht is a former member of the Board of Governors of Concordia University and St. Mary's Hospital, the Board of Directors of the Jewish General Hospital and the Association des hôpitaux du Québec, and the Board of Directors of the Festival International de Lanaudière. He currently serves on the Board of the Quebec Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and on the External Advisory Board of the Concordia Faculty of Arts and Science.

In 1997, Thomas Hecht was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the managing authority of Quebec's pension and insurance plans, as well as Canada's most powerful private-sector institution. He was the second anglophone and the first Jew ever so selected. He serves as well on the Board of Directors of the Caisse's subsidiary, Capital d'Amérique. Since August 2000, he is also on the Board of Directors of the Société Générale de Financement, an industrial and financial holding company whose mission is to carry out economic development projects in compliance with the economic development policy of the Government of Quebec.

In March of 1998, Thomas Hecht endowed a McGill Chair in Ophthalmology at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital. Also the same year, Thomas Hecht was awarded, together with Bishop Andrew Hutchison, the coveted Jerusalem Prize, in recognition for the services of the honorees in the cause of peace, ecumenism, and the unity of Jerusalem.

In July 2001, he was named Chevalier of the Order of the Pléiade.