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Harvey Pollock was dedicated to the law
By BERNIE BELLAN and MYRON LOVE On Sunday, February 5, Harvey Pollock passed away suddenly. Much has already been written and said about his long and illustrious career as a lawyer for over 65 years, also his legendary talent as a whistler. In November 2017 Myron Love wrote an article describing how Harvey Pollock, who had been practicing law for 60 years to that point, had been joined in the practice by two other generations of Pollocks: Harvey’s son Martin, and his grandsons, Ethan Pollock and Noah Globerman.
There have been many great lawyers in our Winnipeg Jewish community over the years, Harvey Pollock among them. But one line in Myron’s story five years ago always stuck with me – the last line of the story: “There were 43 students in my graduating class,” Harvey said. “I am the only one from that class still practicing law.”
In fact, Harvey went on to practice another five years before his untimely death. His story bears repeating.
Here is Harvey Pollock’s story, as Myron wrote it five years ago:
”Harvey Pollock was born the fourth child of Sam and Sliva Pollock, who came from Russia to join family in 1927. Harvey recalls that when he was called to the Bar in 1958, the practice of law was much different than it is today.
“Back then,” he recalls, “judges knew you. Relationships were built on integrity and respect. Your word counted. I enjoyed a healthy relationship with the court.
He remembers his first murder case – which ended in rather dramatic fashion. “The Crown’s chief witness confessed to the murder under cross examination,” he recounts.
For the first couple of years, Pollock received a lot of work from the Children’s Aid Society of Winnipeg. In 1960, he went to work for Hart Green, Q.C.
“After a year, I realized I wasn’t happy doing commercial work,” he says. “And I wanted to be on my own. I went into the Childs Building (which used to be on the corner of Portage and Main) to look for office space to rent. In the elevator, I ran into Montague Israels (Q.C.). He knew me because I was a friend of his daughter, Hester (Kroft). He offered me a desk in his office and told me that I could pay rent once I started making a little money.”
At the time, Pollock was married with two young children at home.
“For two years, Mr. Israel was my mentor,” Pollock says. “I had a wonderful time and learned a lot from him about how to be a lawyer.”
Shortly after moving into his own office, he received a phone call from the secretary of the Law Society of Manitoba who was calling to ask Harvey if he would consider driving out to Portage la Prairie to help out Izzy Greenberg, Q.C., a lawyer in Portage who needed to take a leave for health reason.
“I met with Izzy and agreed to go to Portage a couple of weeks to help,” Pollock says. “After he got better, he asked me to help him out for a couple more months. He handled a great variety of cases. Izzy continued to act as counsel for the Greenberg firm until 1982.”
During this time, Harvey forged a strong relationship with the Aboriginal community of Manitoba. He was appointed honorary chief of all the bands in 1971.
He was appointed a Queens’ Counsel in 1970.
For the first part of his career, Pollock took on a number of murder cases. He stopped doing murder cases in 1992 after his son, Nathan, was killed by a drunk driver.
Pollock notes that he has had several illustrious lawyers among the many who have articled with him. They include Jack London, OC, Q.C., who later became Dean of the Faculty of Law, as well as Marvin Garfinkel, Arnold Conner, Brenda Keyser, and Robert Doyle – all of whom who were later appointed to the Bench.
“There were 43 students in my graduating class,” he says. “I am the only one from that class still practicing law.”
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First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
