Features
Jack Kay: A long way from Redwood Avenue
By GERRY POSNER Jacob Moses Koslofsky has come a long distance in many ways. First of all, his parents, Zachary and Rae, had their name changed to Kay. Second, from the depths of the north end of Winnipeg, he ended up – after stops in Weyburn, Regina, and Montreal – in Toronto, where he has remained for over 40 years. And third, from a kid helping out in his father’s dry-cleaning business, he became a superstar in the generic pharmaceutical industry in Canada and abroad.
Jack grew up initially at 376 1/2 Redwood Avenue. Many readers may recall that some of the duplexes reflected the 1/2 as part of the address which, in the Kay family, was the upper part of the house. Jack walked to the Talmud Torah nearby and attended there until Grade 8. The family then moved up, both figuratively and literally, when they went north to Enniskillen Avenue. Jack had a year at the Talmud Torah on Matheson and a year of public school when the family moved to Regina. Jack was 16 when the big move west occurred as a result of an opportunity Jack’s father had in the laundry and dry cleaning business. The move to Regina also included Jack’s siblings, sister Charna and brother Iser. His older sister Bailah stayed in Winnipeg and later moved to Toronto.
Jack attended high school in Regina and later did a year at Regina College. Coming to Saskatchewan was in fact a return to where the family had started. Both Jack’s and Rae’s parents and grandparents, the Koslofskys and Levs (Rae’s surname), had roots in The Baron de Hirsch Colony. (Jack’s parents met there).
Jack’s family then moved a second time, this time to Weyburn. Jack worked with his father in the business there, also in a mental hospital located in the town… all of this by the age of 19. Jack sat out a year of school working as an attendant in the mental hospital and then enrolled in a three- year training program to become a psychiatric nurse. By 1961, Jack Kay was a Registered Psychiatric Nurse, having successfully passed the University of Saskatchewan exams.
After a couple years of work in that field, Jack was approached by a pharmaceutical company whose products were mainly in the psychiatric area, to become a sales representative for them. When he accepted their offer it meant a return to Winnipeg. Jack worked for six years, but soon he and a colleague and friend, Bill Lifchus, saw an opportunity. They started a company known as Sabra Pharmaceuticals. which really launched Jack into the area of pharmaceutical drugs
Four years later – in 1964, the business was sold to a company by the name of ICN Canada, located in Montreal. Payment came in the form of ICN shares plus a job with the company in Montreal. Once again, Jack picked up and moved with what were, by then, his wife and three children. He ended up working for ICN, which was a family business headed by Morris Goodman for seven years.
Life would have been comparatively easy for Jack had he stayed there, but Jack was approached by the Vice-President of Sales & Marketing of a new company called Apotex. headed by the late Barry Sherman, to see whether Jack might be a good fit for the business. Barry Sherman flew to Montreal to meet Jack Kay. Jack liked what he heard and, against the advice of Morris Goodman, accepted the offer to join Apotex in Toronto as Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. As they say, the rest is history.
Apotex in 1970 was a small operation, indeed far smaller than what Jack had left behind in Montreal with ICN. But Jack Kay was a very effective salesperson with what might be called impressive interpersonal skills. He and Barry Sherman built that business into the giant that it eventually became. Barry was the tech guy and possessed a gift in his ability to deal with patents, their validity and indeed, litigating about their validity. Yet with all of his strengths, Barry Sherman needed a guy like Jack Kay to make the sales. In fact, Jack could do what Barry could not. From a small company, Apotex grew to employ thousands, an accomplishment beyond Jack’s wildest dreams. When I asked someone in the pharmaceutical industry, a competitor in fact, who knew both Barry and Jack, his comment was that Barry never could have made Apotex the entity that it became without Jack Kay. In fact, Barry used to say about Jack Kay that Jack was the brother he never had. The two of them had their offices next to one another with a corridor separating them, so close that they used to yell at one another in Yiddish. Perhaps it was the “mamaloshen” that built Apotex, a business that has become dominant in the generic drug industry in Canada.
In 2017, as most readers likely recall, Barry and Honey Sherman were murdered in their home (in a case that remains unsolved.) Jack took over running the operation of the company, but one year later he was let go by one of the Sherman children. Jack is not exactly on the street though and, in fact, he is on the board of a couple other pharmaceutical start ups, including one with the legendary Aubrey Dan focused on the sale of drugs in the cannabis field designed to help with anxiety and depression.
His life is rather busy. In April 2017 Jack and Barry Sherman (eight months prior to his murder) were approached to assist with a project called “Neshama Hospice,” a palliative care residence with 10-12 beds and intended to be a place with Jewish values. They both agreed to donate a million dollars for the project and, with government support, the construction on that building is scheduled to start next year.
I asked Jack Kay if he thought that the murders of the Shermans would ever be solved and he said he doubted it. But, he did add this caveat.:Given the amount of money out there as a reward, it is possible that mouths might start to open.
The Jack Kay story is indeed a remarkable one given the modest beginnings to a star studded career and his role as an integral part of a large empire world renowned… all the way from Redwood Avenue. And Jack Kay has never forgotten from whence he came.
Features
Winnipeg Beach Synagogue about to celebrate 75th anniversary

By BERNIE BELLAN (July 13) In 1950 a group of cottage owners at Winnipeg Beach took it upon themselves to relocate a one-room schoolhouse that was in the Beausejour area to Winnipeg Beach where it became the beach synagogue at the corner of Hazel and Grove.
There it stayed until 1998 when it was moved to its current location at Camp Massad.
On August 2nd members of the synagogue will be holding a 75th anniversary celebration.

As part of the celebration anyone who is a descendant or relative of any of the original members of the first executive committee (as seen in the photo here) is invited to attend the synagogue that morning.
If you are a relative please contact Abe Borzykowski at wpgbeachshule@shaw.ca or aborzykowski@shaw.ca to let Abe know you might be attending or for more information about the 75th anniversary celebration.
We will soon be publishing a story about the history of the beach synagogue, which is something I’ve been writing about for over 25 years.
Features
Kinzey Posen: CBC Winnipeg’s former “go-to guy”

By GERRY POSNER If former Winnipegger Lawrence Wall was the CBC go-to guy in Ottawa, CBC Winnipeg had its own version of a go-to guy for many years with none other than the very well known Kinzey Posen. Of course, many readers will recognize that name from his career with Finjan, the Klezmer group so famous across Canada and beyond. It has been written about Posen and his wife Shayla Fink that they have been involved in music since they got out of diapers. And, as an aside, their love and ability in music has now been transmitted to the next generation as in their son, Ariel Posen (but that’s another story).
Kinzey Posen (not to be confused with Posner, or maybe we are to be confused, but who knows for sure?), was a graduate of Peretz School, having attended there from nursery right until Grade 7, graduating in1966. That was followed by Edmund Partridge and West Kildonan Collegiate. Musically, he was in large part self taught. However, he did have some teachers along the way. After moving to Vancouver – from 1974-78, he had the chance to study acoustic classical bass with a member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. When Kinzey lived in Vancouver, he also worked as a jazz musician.
Upon returning to Winnipeg, Kinzey enrolled as a mature student at the University of Winnipeg, where he obtained a Bachelor of Urban Studies degree. Although the degree was in no way connected to the career that followed, his attending the University of Winnipeg was critical to his connecting with the CBC. Why? you ask. Kinzey had a position after graduation working for the Institute of Urban Studies. While there, he met someone who invited him to work for the Department of Continuing Education as one of their program directors. At the time the Department of Continuing Education was located at 491 Portage Avenue, which was also known as the TJ Rice Building. The CBC also leased some space in the same building. According to Kinzey, the CBC part of the building “included HR, different shows and other support offices. Continuing Education was located in the basement and main floor and that’s where I worked.”
KInzey had long had an interest in the CBC, which made the fact that the CBC had some offices in the same building where he was working serendipitous. That Kinzey might be interested in visiting the CBC was not an accident. As a young boy he had a nightly connection to CBC, as it was his ritual to listen to CBC Radio (as well as all sorts of other radio stations across the USA) on his transistor radio every night in bed. He became enamoured of one particular CBC host, Bill Guest, so that when going to sleep, he imagined that he was Guest doing interviews with imaginary guests. That dream of working for CBC became a reality when he had a chance to do a one week gig with Jack Farr’s network program.
Kinzey took a week off from his Continuing Education job and spent five days at the CBC. That week was a training session for Posen, as he had to create ideas, research, pre-interview, write the script, and set up the studio for Farr’s interview. He was almost in his dream job – although not quite – since it was only for one week. His opportunity, however, came in 1988, when he was offered a one-year term as a production assistant – the lowest guy on the ladder, for a show called “ Simply Folk,” with the late Mitch Podolak as the host. Although he was indeed at the bottom as far as those working on the show were concerned, he took a chance and gave his notice to the U of W. The rest is history. In his new job, Kinzey learned how to become a producer. Lucky for him, at the end of the year, when the person he replaced was supposed to come back, she never returned (just like the song, “MTA,” by the Kingston Trio). At that point, Kinzey was hired full time at the CBC.
Kinzey was a fixture at the CBC for 27 years. During those years, Kinzey had the chance to work with Ross Porter, a respected former CBC host and producer, also with Karen Sanders – on the “Afternoon Edition.” One aspect of Kinzey’s job on the Afternoon Edition was to come up with ideas, mix sound effects, arrange interviews and music, to create a two-hour radio experience. In addition, he covered jazz and folk festivals and, as a result, was exposed to some of the best musicians in the world. With Ross Porter in the 1990s, he worked on a network jazz show called “ After Hours,” which was on from 8-10 PM five nights a week. Kinzey was involved with writing the scripts, picking the music, and recording the shows, as well as editing them and then presenting them to the network for playback.
Of course, over his career, Kinzey had many memorable moments. He told me about one of them. The story revolved around the National Jazz Awards one year in particular. The awards were to be broadcasted after the National News which, in those days, began much earlier in the evening, and were over by 8:00 pm. The legendary Oscar Peterson was lined up to play a half hour set at the awards, starting at 7:30. But, as Kinzey told me, Oscar Peterson had a “hate on” for the CBC ecause one of his recorded performances was wrongly edited and he refused to appear on CBC under any circumstances. As the time neared 8:05 PM, which was when the CBC was to begin its broadcast of the jazz awards, it became apparent that Oscar was not going to finish on time. As the producer of the awards show, Kinzey was tasked with telling Oscar Peterson to wrap it up and get off the stage. There was Kinzey Posen, a huge fan of Oscar Peterson, now faced with the prospect of telling Oscar – while he was still playing – with 500 people in the audience, to stop and get off the stage. Not often was or is Kinzey Posen frozen, but that was one such moment. There was one loud “Baruch Hashem” from Kinzey when Oscar completed his set literally just in time.
Clearly, Kinzey was part of a very successful run with After Hours as it was on the air for 14 years. It was easily one of the most popular shows on CBC Radio 2, and a winner of several broadcasting awards. Kinzey also played a major role in producing a two part documentary about legendary guitarist Lenny Breau.
When After Hours ended, Posen became one of the contributing producers to Canada Live and specialized in producing live radio specials for the network, such as the Junos, for CBC Radio One and Two. Needless to say, his career planted Posen in the world of some top notch musicians, including his time spent working with Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), Dave Brubeck, Randy Bachman, Chantal Kreviazuk and a list of prominent names in the Canadian, American and European music spheres. Locally, the CBC came to refer to Kinzey as the Jewish expert. I would add music expert to that title.
After his 27 year run at the CBC – and before he fully retired, Kinzey went on to work for the Rady JCC as a program director for a year and a half. Of course, to say that Kinzey Posen is retired is a major contradiction in terms. You really can’t keep him down and he has his hand in a variety of programs and projects – most of which he remains silent about, as is his style.
When I realized the full depth and talent of Kinzey Posen, I quickly concluded that he must certainly be related to me. Even if he isn’t, I now tell people he is.
Features
History of a Holocaust Survivor Turning Eighty

By HENRY SREBRNIK On July 19, I turn 80 years old. This is indeed a milestone, but for me, an even bigger one was just being born. My parents were Holocaust survivors, and I found out just a few months ago that, technically, so am I. My parents were from Czestochowa, Poland, where I was born in 1945. By 1943 most Jews in the city, including their own families, had been murdered by the Nazis, at Treblinka, and after the uprising in the Jewish ghetto, my parents, by now married, became slave labour in a major Nazi munitions plant, the HASAG-Pelcery concentration camp, in the city.
The Russian army liberated Czestochowa January 16-17, 1945, and I was born July 19, six months later. You can do the math. My mother was emaciated and didn’t even know she was pregnant, but another month, and it would have been obvious, and she would have been killed. (I never asked how this happened but found out when listening to her testimony for the Shoah Foundation in 1995. The men and women were housed in different barracks, but one night the Germans were delousing one of the buildings and allowed married couples to sleep together in the other.)

In 1945 the 9th of Av fell on July 19, and the Jewish world had just gone through our worst period in history. I was born in a makeshift hospital at the Jasna Gora, the famed Pauline Catholic monastery in the city. The actual city hospital had been destroyed in the fighting. It is home to the Matka Boska Czestochowska, (“the mother of God”), a very beautiful and large icon of Mary and the baby Jesus. Other women giving birth were surprised and one said, “Ona jest Zydowka” (She’s a Jew). So, though I am a proud Polish Jew, this could only have helped! The doctor who delivered whispered to my mother that he was Jewish but added that he wanted it kept quiet because he wasn’t going to leave Poland. It also took awhile for a mohel to come to the city for me.
The next few years were spent in Pocking-Waldstadt, a DP camp in the American zone in Bavaria, Germany, and then on to Pier 21 in Halifax and Canada. We lived in Montreal, though at home we were to all intents and purposes in Czestochowa, Jewish Poland.
As I was packing up my books in May because we all had to vacate our offices for the summer due to repairs in our building, I came across a book that I had never read – I don’t even recall where I got it — by the Polish historian Lucjan Dobroszycki, Survivors of the Holocaust in Poland: A Portrait Based on Jewish Community Records 1944-1947 (Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1994). Chapter 5 is comprised of “Lists of Jewish Children Who Survived,” in alphabetical order. I am listed on p. 146 (Heniek Srebrnik, 1945). I sent in a form to the Claims Conference in New York informing them. So, at age 80, I’ve become a Holocaust survivor! Compared to that start, the next decades have been easy street! As the Aussies say, “no worries! But the Jewish world has grown darker. Like many others, were I to write a memoir, I’d call it From Hitler to Hamas.
I grew up in Montreal, and have lived in Calgary and Charlottetown, as well as London, England, and four American cities. But I’ve only been to Winnipeg twice, in 1982 and, more dramatically, the weekend of Sept. 7-10, 2001. I presented a paper on “Birobidzhan on the Prairies: Two Decades of Pro-Soviet Jewish Movements in Winnipeg,” to a conference on “Jewish Radicalism in Winnipeg, 1905-1960,” organized by the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. I left the morning of Sept. 11. An hour into the flight to Toronto we were told all airplanes had to land at the nearest major airport. I spent the next three days in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., with fellow passengers. We mostly watched the television reporting on the 9/11 catastrophe.
Though an academic, I have always written for newspapers, including Jewish ones, in Canada and the United States. Some, like the Jewish Free Press of Calgary, the Jewish Tribune of Toronto, and the previous version of the Canadian Jewish News, no longer exist, which is a shame. Fortunately, the Jewish Post still does.
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island.