TORONTO – Without Frank Gehry, the Art Gallery of Ontario wouldn’t be what it is today.

So says the gallery’s CEO, Stephan Jost, who points to the renowned architect’s 2008 transformation of the space as a formative moment for the century-old institution.

“It didn’t just solidify its position in Toronto or Canada. It solidified its position globally,” Jost says of the expansion project.

“And it kind of — people made the link between Frank Gehry and Toronto. Of course he’s a Torontonian, right? But people didn’t always know that.”

The Canadian-born architect, who was 96, died on Friday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., following a brief illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners, LLP.

Gehry’s $276-million re-creation of the AGO includes the Galleria Italia, a long

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