Arran Stephens

Arran Stephens was born on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, the son of Rupert Stephens, a berry farmer and songwriter, and Gwen Stephens. His brother is Godfrey Stephens, a well-known Canadian artist. Stephens is of English and Scottish ancestry. His paternal great-great-grandfather was Joseph Cripps MP (1765–1847), long-serving Member of Parliament for Cirencester. Joseph's grandson, John Matthew Cripps (1823–1892), rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General in the Bengal Staff Corps. Lt-Gen Cripps's daughter Agnes Grace Cripps married Dr Harold Stephens, bringing the family to Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Stephens grew up on a berry farm on Vancouver Island until his early teens, when his family relocated to Los Angeles following his father's pursuit of a songwriting career. He attended Hollywood High School briefly before supporting himself as a painter and poet, with gallery showings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and Vancouver.

In 1964, while living in New York, Stephens became interested in spirituality and mysticism. In 1967 he travelled to India to study for seven months under Sant Kirpal Singh. He returned to India in 1968 for a further six months of study, and on 4 March 1969 married Ratana Mala Bagga, a college lecturer, before returning with her to Canada.

Health

In March 2011, Stephens received a living-donor liver transplant at Vancouver General Hospital for non-alcoholic end-stage cirrhosis. The donated liver tissue was provided by his daughter Gurdeep. Following his recovery, Arran and Ratana Stephens donated $1 million to VGH's Gastroenterology Department in gratitude for his care. A portion of the gift funded the purchase of a Fibroscan System — a non-invasive ultrasound technology for diagnosing liver disease — and an Endoscopic Ultrasound for the hospital's Endoscopy Clinic.

In June 2026, Arran and Ratana Stephens made a $40 million donation to Simon Fraser University's new school of medicine — the largest single donation in SFU's history and one of the largest ever made to a medical school in Canada. In recognition, the school was named the SFU Stephens Family School of Medicine, welcoming its first cohort of 48 students in August 2026. The BC government noted that the Stephens family has donated more than $100 million throughout the Lower Mainland and globally.

Their other major philanthropic contributions include:

Vancouver General Hospital — The Stephens family made two major gifts to VGH's Gastroenterology Department: an initial donation funding the purchase of a Fibroscan System, a non-invasive ultrasound tool for painless liver disease diagnosis, followed by a $1 million gift establishing the Stephens Family Fellowship in Gastroenterology, a 10-year program supporting future Canadian leaders in clinical care and research.

Vancouver Coastal Health Withdrawal Management Centre — A $3 million donation towards a new, purpose-built withdrawal management facility in East Vancouver, intended to bring addiction treatment resources currently distributed across the city under one roof, scheduled for completion in 2027.

Food banks — Through Nature's Path's Bite4Bite Love Crunch program, the company donates at least $2 million worth of food annually to food banks across North America, with total donations exceeding CAD $41 million between 2010 and 2023.

Gardens for Good — A Nature's Path initiative founded in 2010 that awards annual grants to organic community gardens across the United States and Canada. Since its launch, the program has donated nearly $1 million to more than 120 gardens, reaching its goal of $1 million donated three years ahead of schedule in 2025.

Health care and education — Further contributions have been made to BC Children's Hospital, St. Paul's Hospital Wellness Garden, the University of British Columbia Faculty of Land and Food Systems, the University of Victoria (student bursaries), Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and the Science of Spirituality Meditation Centre.

Doctors Without Borders Canada — Proceeds from Arran Stephens's 2022 art exhibition at UBC, which raised nearly CAD $70,000 in support of Ukraine relief.