By MYRON LOVE
The recent merger of Wilder, Wilder and Langtrey with Pullan Frohlinger Kammerloch brings together some of our Jewish community’s most high profile legal practitioners.

With almost 70 years of experience, Gordon Pullan, QC has been practicing law longer than anyone else in Manitoba. (Only the late Harry Walsh was in practice longer.) He was honored by the Law Society of Manitoba as a senior member of the Bar with more than 50 years of practice almost 19 years ago. At 94, he is still working full time.

In a press release issued Thursday, January 30, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba announced the appointment of John Diamond as its new CEO. Diamond is scheduled to begin his new role on Monday, February 10, 2020.
A lifelong resident of Winnipeg, Diamond’s appointment follows a period of more than a year in which the Foundation had no CEO.
Despite not having a CEO, the Foundation managed to continue operating successfully - having received $7.5 million in new contributions in the 2018 fiscal year, and having allocated a record $4,558,794 in grants during that period - up $13,055 from the previous year.

By MYRON LOVE
At a time in his life when most of his contemporaries have already retired - or are looking to transition to a more leisurely life- Joel Lazer is going against the grain and taking on more responsibility.
As of the most recent Jewish Federation of Winnipeg Annual General Meeting in mid-December, Lazer has assumed the role of our community’s new president. At the same time, the co-founder in 1982 of Lazer Grant LLP continues to shoulder a full work load helping business clients to become more productive.

By BERNIE BELLAN
Originally published in the Feb. 5 issue of the JP&N

The one story that has preoccupied me most in recent weeks has been the impending sale of the portion of Town Island that is not owned by BB Camp, but which is owned by the City of Kenora. I am now glad to report that, at least for the time being, the sale of Town Island has been averted – not because the City of Kenora dropped the idea of selling it; rather, it was because Kenora did not receive one single “expression of interest” in buying the island, according to an email I received from Kenora’s Manager of Development Service, Adam Smith.

By MYRON LOVE
Since the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2005 designated January 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – as the date for the annual commemoration of the Holocaust, communities around the world have been planning events on or around that date to continue to raise awareness of the greatest evil of the 20th century and remember the victims.
The centerpiece of this year’s commemoration - in Winnipeg – of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz - was the story of Holocaust survivor Leo Lowy. Roughly 500 people gathered at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on the afternoon of Sunday, January 26, to hear his story.

By MYRON LOVE
The fifth annual Shabbat Unplugged Leadership Retreat – which took place on the weekend of January 10-12 – was the most successful to date. Asper School of Business student Einat Livni, who assisted Hillel Winnipeg director Hartley Mendelsohn, reports that this year’s retreat at Hecla attracted 130 university students and young adults, including eight from UBC in Vancouver and seven from the University of Calgary.