Izzy gone?

Not than anyone outside of Canada would know the name, but a great businessman, Israel H. Asper, creator the the CanWest media empire, sadly but not entirely surprisingly died yesterday. The eulogizing in the Canadian media is extensive today and there's no need for more. I met Izzy several times and spent time with a lot of his cronies (don't ask). The peculiar thing that reports of his death make clear to me is a distinct difference in how the Christian and Jewish immigrants to Canada of the early 20th-century European waves) identity themselves. I come from the stock of Ukrainian Christian immigrants (allegedly, 5 generations ago) and am part of the Canadian demography that identifies itself as "Ukrainian," or Canadian of Ukrainian descent. Asper, on the other hand, as long as I've known him and of him, has always been the son of Jewish immigrants, period, full-stop. Yes, they were Eastern-Europeans, but their origin was always secondary. He was proud of being Jewish, and that's good. To the best of my knowledge he didn't, unlike so many Christians, belong to Ukrainian societies and Ukrainian businessmen's clubs, etc. Doesn't really matter. I just find it interesting.

Posted by Grayson at October 8, 2003 09:01 AM