Our Dad was born in Toronto on January 27, 1927, the third child of Benjamin and Bella Glanzer. He was born three months after his parents arrived in Canada with our Dad’s 2 older siblings Max and Shirley in October 1926 Our Dad’s younger brother Moe was born a year later. Shortly after he was born, the family moved to Montreal.Tragically our Dad’s father died when our Dad was only 4, leaving our grandmother to look after 4 children all under the age of eight.

In those days instead of foster homes, there was a Jewish orphanage called the Montefiore Hebrew Orphans’ Home. Our Dad qualified as an orphan as he had lost a parent. Our grandmother was very smart and to keep the family together, she got took a job as a cook at the orphanage. She was an amazing cook and a wonderful soul and all the children at the orphanage called her Mom.

The orphanage was not the kind you read about in a Dickens novel. Rather my Dad told us he had a very happy childhood with lots of friends and great activities including summers at a beautiful summer camp in the Laurentians.

Our dad finished high school at night as he needed to work to help support the family. He studied graphic art and was a very talented artist. His first job was at the Jewish Y in Montreal where he did a lot of posters and graphic artwork for them.

Our Dad met our Mom Roslyn z”l when she was about 17 and our Dad was 19. They were introduced by a mutual friend Joe Miller z”l .Nellie Miller who is a member of Beit Rayim and my mom were friends for over 85 years.

Mom knew that Dad had feelings for her when they started dating. She used to tell the story that my Dad deliberately forgot his umbrella at her house so he would have an excuse to go back and see her. Our mom married my dad when she was 19 and he was 21. They were married for over 71 years -truly remarkable and inspirational.

Our Dad’s relationship with our mother was out of a Hollywood movie..always together sharing and experiencing all the good things that life has to offer and supporting each other when challenges arose. My dad and mom did everything together. My dad started off working for someone in the restaurant equipment business then when he eventually went on his own to form National Restaurant Equipment .

My mom went to work with him as his bookkeeper.

Our Dad was an extremely hard worker, leaving the house before 7 and getting home after 7 except on Fridays. He built up a very successful restaurant equipment business. They supplied major hotels and chains like Dunkin’ Donuts with all their kitchen equipment including several restaurants at Expo 67.

When I was starting to prepare my thoughts, I was trying to figure out the best way to capture the essence of our dad what would be the best way to describe a man and father who in my mind was truly one of a kind.

It became easy as the texts and emails started to roll in after his passing and I wanted to share some of the words used to describe him:

Kind-hearted, handsome, funny, special, generous, positive influence, inspirational, role model, hardworking, remarkable,

a true friend, selfless, ONE OF A KIND and loving to name a few.

Our dad had a unique gift in that he knew how to relate and communicate with everyone he interacted with in a way that always made the recipient feel better after their conversation. I think this is why he was so successful in business and sustaining friendships for his entire life.

Paper-our dad loved paper – he would make dozens of photocopies of the same document and had a very detailed filing system with files for everything- doctor’s appointments, warranty cards, correspondence etc.

Although an excellent and fast typist (who typed a lot of my papers when I was in high school), our dad wrote everything out in longhand including volumes of correspondence to anyone he dealt with. And paper napkins- the first thing he would do when sitting down at a restaurant was to ask for more napkins- even though he was a very careful eater who rarely got dirty as he never ate anything with his hands.

I mentioned our Dad was a great artist. In grade school when we had projects to do that involved scrapbooks and illustrations, my Dad would draw the most amazing drawings by freehand- lions, tigers, landscapes, buildings, this was all before clip art and photoshop and grabbing free images on the internet. I was a terrible artist, and I failed art throughout my school years. Yet I would get A’s on these projects and the teachers never questioned who actually did the art. I owe my Dad a lot for those high grades.

I can honestly say that my dad never had to raise his voice to get me to listen using his sense of humour and calm personality. He approached life with a positive outlook always reassuring ,always wanting to make us laugh and making us feel that we could accomplish anything.

As a friend said to me...he was the father everyone needed to be and the father everyone wanted to have.

Space does not allow me to tell all my Dad stories that I can recall, but a couple stand out in my mind.

There was a time, I was looking for a new car, a Toyota Camry I think. I was visiting my parents in Montreal. I was with my Dad at a shopping center. We were walking back to our car, when my Dad noticed a woman, a total stranger getting into her new Toyota Camry. My dad went over to her and said, my son here is thinking about getting a Camry, do you mind if he tries sitting in your car. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment- but my Dad was very charming and this woman instead of screaming for the police, obliged, got out of her car and let me sit behind the wheel.

Another story.. I was visiting in Montreal, and my dad was taking the family out for dinner at Moishe’s Steakhouse. At the time Moishe’s was opening a Toronto location in one of the towers in the downtown financial district. In the car on the way to the restaurant, I told my dad that I thought they were opening in the wrong location. At the restaurant, my dad says to the owner – Lenny- meet my son the lawyer from Toronto- he says you’re opening up in the wrong location in Toronto- I thought I would die … turns out I was right- Moishe’s lasted less than a year in Toronto.

Vacations/Cottage

We have so many great memories of family vacations- Florida, New York, at the cottage in the Adirondacks on Chateauguay Lake., Palm Springs (Our Dad took up water skiing in his 50’s).

When our parents got their cottage, they continued to entertain family and friends.

They made many close friends at the cottage and the annual New Years parties hosted by my parents were always a highlight loved by everyone.

Our dad also took all the family including the grandchildren on 2 cruises. We had T- shirts made- saying I’m cruising with Syd and had a blast.

In 1998, Dad and Mom joined us in Israel for our daughter Joanna’s Bat mitzvah, and it was an amazing trip. My Dad was eager to try everything even riding a camel

Our Dad was a great athlete he won may ribbons for track and filed in high school. He was an excellent swimmer and skater.

Love of music

Our Dad loved music. We would go to concerts together – just the two of us – all kinds of Concerts, cantorial, blues festivals. One of my Dad’s biggest thrills was meeting BB King and having his picture taken with him. Although he didn’t play a musical instrument , he was very musical and had a beautiful singing voice. As a youngster, he sang in the choir at Shaar Shomayim synagogue in Montreal.

When our Dad retired in 1998, he needed to find something to keep him busy.

He found his second calling when he and our Mom moved to Toronto in 2002 and took over leadership of his condo’s social committee. He planned several amazing programs- like trips to Stratford; wine and cheese parties, casino trips, bingo, movie nights, BBQ’s. After he retired from the committee the programming dropped off. To this day, residents of the condo comment on how great a job he did, and he received an award of recognition.

Our parents were not religious but Judaism and Jewish holidays were very important to them and they always belonged to and supported a shul. We were expected to be home every Friday night for Shabbos dinner. Our parents hosted all the family seders in Montreal and Rosh Hashanah dinners and continued for some time after my parents moved to Toronto.

Dad was very proud of our accomplishments. He was always supportive and encouraging. He loved participating in his grandchildren’s lives even though they were in a different city. He would try and make all the dance recitals and special events.

Dad had serious health issues over his last few years, but he got to attend 2 of his granddaughters’ weddings and meet all his great grandchildren.

I want us to remember my dad as a loving husband, father, father-in law, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, cousin and friend with his beautiful smile, gregarious personality, and great hair.

Dad- you were truly inspirational, one of a kind and a true Mensch. You’ve gone to a better place and are now together again with Mom- the love of your life. May your soul rest in peace.

We love you.