More than a benefactor, a friend and comedian

BAILA LAZARUS EDITOR

When Joe Segal was starting out in business as a young man, he had just come out of the army. He had a few hundred dollars in his pocket, had just met his wife, and was trying to expand his holdings.

“My first store was across the street from Wosk’s on Hastings and Abbott,” recalled Segal. “I was buying a business in New Westminster and I had lunch with Morry. He said, if $50,000 will help you, I’ll be glad to help you.”

Segal didn’t accept the loan as he was able to secure one from his bank, but he never forgot the gesture.

“Helping on an unsolicited basis, that’s the real kind of help,” he said. “I could pick up the phone to him any time and we would talk about the community and so many needs in the community. All I had to do was open a subject related to a cause ... and he would say, ‘I would be happy to help. How can I help?’ ”

Segal was one of Wosk’s oldest friends, going back to 1946. They met through a distant relative of Segal’s wife, Rosalie Wosk.

“We were related but, more importantly, we were good friends,” said Segal.
Commenting on his first encounters with Wosk, Segal noted that many people want to help out but need some direction. Wosk was like that, he said.

“So many people in life want to do a lot of things. The world is made up of mostly good people, but the problem is sometimes they don’t get involved because they’re afraid to. They need a little bit of encouragement.

“Morry was the kind of guy that if he really believed there was an integrity and a sincerity to any call, he would be supportive. There were many things he did that no one really was aware of and it’s the little things that count.”

Asked if he thought Wosk had achieved everything he had wanted to do his lifetime, Segal said, “I believe he really had a well-balanced life. He did everything he wanted to do. He lived a standard of life that he achieved. But everything he did in life was with humility; he was never an arrogant man.”

Israel connections

Dvori Balshine has known Wosk for more than three decades. Over the years, she has travelled with him to Israel numerous times, especially when Wosk was on the Hebrew University’s board of governors, and they developed a friendship.
On one of those trips, Wosk received an honorary doctorate from Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“I think he received it because of his philanthropy and because of his love for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Jewish people,” said Balshine. “He felt that he was underprivileged himself because of circumstances at the beginning of the century and because when he was a little child he could not pursue an education. And he made a deal with himself that if God would be good to him, he would help others to pursue higher education.”

Out of his attachment to Israel, Wosk kept an apartment in Jerusalem next to the King David Hotel. According to Balshine, the Wosks would host various dignitaries and Dena Wosk would perform impromptu concerts for them on the violin.

Adding to his impressiveness, said Balshine, Wosk was not just a figurehead on the board of governors of the university but took an active role.

“Some people are sitting on the board and are [just doodling] on their paper. He was definitely an active member,” she said.

Balshine first met the Wosks through her husband’s family when she was still living in Israel. When Balshine came to Canada, she maintained a close connection with the family and they with her.

“When my son Dror was born here 13 months after I came to Vancouver, you couldn’t enter my room in the hospital because Dena and Morry Wosk had brought two huge stuffed animals for my son. They were at all my family simchahs,” she said. “Whenever my parents came over from Israel, [the Wosks] used to take us out for dinner.”

Balshine added that Wosk had a wonderful sense of humor and was always enjoyable to be with.

“I got the impression that this gentleman loves life. He always had a joke, something nice to say,” she said. “The community lost a philanthropist, a leader and a good man.”

A city all his own

Of all the tributes given to Wosk in terms of awards, galas, dinners and speeches, perhaps the most memorable was the State of Israel Bonds Jerusalem 3000 awards ceremony in June of 1996. The banquet, which honored Wosk for his contributions, also marked the 50th wedding anniversary of Wosk and his wife, Dena.

Mayor Philip Owen, one of the dignitaries at the event, laughed as he recalled the evening.

“My great memory of him was at the Hyatt Regency Hotel having a send up with Larry King,” said Owen. “That was an unbelievable event. Morris just undid Larry King, it was incredible. Morris won the whole discussion. He had Larry King dancing around. Morris was in top form – the twinkle in his eye and his sense of humor and timing were remarkable.”

After the event, Wosk sent Owen a picture of the three of them, with a note saying he had a heading for each of them: For the mayor, the recommended heading was “Elected,” under Larry King, it was “Connected” and under Wosk would go the title “Perfected.”

Owen, who has come to know Wosk as a friend and devoted citizen, presented Wosk with a Freedom of the City Award that night, recognizing Wosk’s dedication to Vancouver.

“He loved this city,” said Owen. “His whole interest was the city of Vancouver. He did not live in a suburban municipality, he did not invest in a suburban municipality. His business, his life, his residence, his office, his investments – everything was in the city of Vancouver.

Owen said he was surprised at the emotion Wosk displayed when he received the award.

“When I made arrangements for him to get the Freedom of the City Award, you’d think I’d given him a trillion dollars,” said Owen. “I couldn’t believe how emotional and strongly he felt about the city. He was just overwhelmed.

“It showed his true emotion and his true heart and soul [that he was] making this a better place. He came here with nothing and he worked hard and he left this a much better place than when he arrived. That’s a great legacy.”

June 19, 1996, was declared Morris Wosk Day in the city of Vancouver.

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