Obituaries
MALKE SHORE May 12, 1928 – January 8, 2021
It is with enormous sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Malke Shore, age 92, loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, at the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre.
Malke was born to Moishe and Laika Katz in Miedzyrzec, Poland and travelled with her family by boat to Canada at the age of two. Her family settled in Winnipeg. Despite tough times, Malke was in the first graduating class of the I.L. Peretz school, where she sang in the school choir, followed by William White School and St. John’s Tech High School. Lacking the funds for a teacher’s college education, Malke chose to enter the retail world, starting first in bookkeeping and then in sales. She was a member of Hashomer Hatzair youth group, but declined making Aliyah (moving to Israel) to care for her blind mother, as well as her siblings Benny and Beatrice (Bea).
In 1951, Malke married the love of her life and her forever partner, Jack Shore, and moved with him to Canora and then Tisdale, Saskatchewan, working side by side with him at Shore & Son’s general clothing and shoe store. She was a strong participant in community life, eventually becoming the president of both the Kinette Club and the Hospital Auxiliary. Building a Jewish home was important to Malke. She ordered kosher meat to be shipped to Tisdale from Winnipeg and participated in the activities of the Melfort synagogue, including a baby naming for her son and a Bat Mitzvah for her daughter. In 1970, the family moved to Winnipeg, where she again collaborated with Jack to run Maljac Fashions. She later managed Chantal, an exclusive boutique in Eaton Place, and eventually managed the women’s plus-size department at Eaton’s downtown. All of her customers loved and trusted her. She worked her whole life, an amazing example of a working mother in an era when this was not yet the norm.
Malke loved her husband dearly, including travelling with Jack and celebrating all events with him; they were a model of love and partnership through good times and bad. When he had to be in a nursing home, she visited him every single day.
Malke was everyone’s mother, grandmother, friend. She was involved in every event for her children and grandchildren, and mothered her children’s friends as well. She lived for her children’s happiness. She was so proud of Tsiporah being a doctor and mother of Bernie, authoring a book while also working. Malke was thrilled beyond belief when she had her own grandchildren; she babysat them, fed them, spoiled them, and loved them unconditionally. She had so much pride in everything that they did and still do. She followed Leanne to her universities, witnessing not only her graduation but her dorms, apartments, and the Yale Law Library. She visited Joshua’s fraternity house and toured Atlanta with him for several days to celebrate his college graduation. She was thrilled when Julian introduced her to great-grandson Bentley, and had chocolate bars for Bentley whenever he came to her apartment. She baked and cooked with Luca and had good times during their many visits. Malke made her grandchildren feel special with unconditional support; if they were happy, she was too.
Malke was also a true mother to her children’s partners. She loved Tsiporah’s husband Jeff as if he were her own son. She and he had their own relationship, their own inside jokes. She was always welcoming to Bernie’s partner, Jackie. She had a way to just make people feel comfortable.
Malke was also there for all her friends; always sending Jack with baking or cooking to anyone needing it; for illness, for parties, for any reason at all. She cared for her sister when she became ill and managed everything for her. Her nieces and nephews were like her own children. She mothered her special friend, Marie Lavoie, as if she was her own daughter. Everyone who met her enjoyed her warmth.
Malke was incredibly social and could strike up a conversation with anyone. She was a Board Member of the Maple Leaf Chapter of B’nai Brith Women. Without judgment or reservation she supported all those around her. She made a point to get to know every single person she met, and to shower them in warmth, from her closest relatives to the person behind her in line at the grocery store. She was effortless in building community, and in caring for each individual person thoughtfully and diligently.
Malke loved being independent; hosting friends and relatives in her apartment and going everywhere she wanted via the bus, handi transit, and her special driver, Jeff Aboodi. She was so proud when she learned to use an iPad and for years communicated via Facebook and text message with her family and friends. She participated in every event at the Simkin Center; from bowling to bingo to Shabbat Services, she did it all.
Malke leaves to cherish her memory her daughter Dr. Tsiporah Shore (Rabbi Jeffrey Gale); her son Bernie Shore (and partner Jackie Moore-Bunney); her grandchildren Leanne, Joshua, Julian and Luca; her great-grandson Bentley; nephews and nieces, Zvi Gordon, Saul Jacobson, Sybil Stokoloff, Akivah Starkman, Gary Starkman, Roni Katz, David Katz, Ilana Katz-Morstead, and their spouses and children. She also leaves to mourn numerous cousins and many friends.
She was predeceased by her parents, Moishe and Laika Katz; her sister Beatrice (Bea) Starkman (Herb); her brother Ben Katz (Avivah), her sisters-in-law, Razel Jacobson (Sammy) and Ruth Gordon (Sam); and nephews, Don Gordon and Tom Morstead.
The family would like to thank Drs. Turnly Wong, Clarence Khoo, Gregg Eschun, and Richa Tandon for their outstanding care and kindness. The family also extends sincere thanks to Corinna, Brenda, Tessie, Jan, Marilyn, Lori, and the entire nursing staff and health care aides of Weinberg 2, the many volunteers of the Simkin Center, Josh who facilitated recreation and FaceTime, and the entire Simkin Centre staff. Thanks to Jaafar (Jeff) Aboodi, Malke’s driver, and to Marie Lavoie and Cycelia Lazarowich for always being there for her. And thanks to all friends and relatives for their unending support.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Saul and Claribel Simkin Center; the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada – Manitoba; the Canadian National Institute for the Blind; or to a charity of your choice.
Malke sent ripples of love and kindness throughout this world, through the many people she met, and the many people who were able to bask in the light she spread. It was her joy and her love of community that allowed her to live so fully. Tehizichronalivracha – may her memory be for a blessing!
Obituaries
MORLEY JACOBS APRIL 16, 1941 – JUNE 26, 2025

With deep reluctance to post his passing, our adored Moishe who fought to stay as long as possible, left us, in the early hours of June 26th; while his presence resides in memories, the activities he pursued in the purposeful life he lived, remain.
He never lost the use of his affable charming smile under his blue eyed gaze; an intent listener, even in his last days, who made you feel seen and heard. To be known by Morley was a privilege; to have been his friend often felt like walking with a prince of angels, when he spoke less and listened more.
Dr. J as his students over the years would tell you, he was the kind of mentor you could trust. His passion for excellence in education was intense and generous, inspiring his students with their own potential to realize a career.
A PhD in Biochemistry, Morley lectured in classes and labs at RRCC, where he connected one by one, year after year with a multitude of young people. Reaching beyond this, Morley successfully petitioned the provincial government and won the retention of the Biochemistry Department at RRCC, following which he expanded the opportunities for students on practicum in this field, through a Jobs co-operative program. In the Biology/Chemistry Departments at U of W, as the Co-op Coordinator, Morley developed the program within the province and beyond for graduate students in applied Sciences Degrees.
In subsequent years, he connected graduates of the RRCC course, who wished to continue in Biochemistry in a reciprocal agreement to earn and achieve a Bachelor Degree in Biochemistry at University.
For 13 consecutive years, between1989 to 2002, Morley served as an elected School Trustee in the Seven Oak School system. He was an educational activist working on multiple committees, knew the principals and teaching staff at each school, always searching for increasing student successand a long time proponent for Year-round Education.
Through those years, Morley attended dozens of schools, personally documenting results of their YRE programs.
Selected to serve as the chairperson on a variety of boards, including the Seven Oaks School Board, he took on each role with dedicated time, organizing, improving, and encouraging an elevated standard of public service. His days were filled well into the evenings, with volunteer work and on weekends when he decided to partner with like minded friends, he brought computer tutors and kids together with an early learning education opportunity.
Along with all of that work, Morley found time to run the Boston Marathon to raise funds for the I.L. Peretz School in 1978 was a long time member of the CIC and served as Mid-Canada AOAC President. A lifetime believer in blood donations, Morley was honored as a distinguished citizen with humanitarian recognition, for the number of donations he gave over the years. On retirement, he researched and developed a Greenhouse Nutrition project to improve food sourcing for Northern communities and in that same period, spent 8 years writing a book, he hoped would be a legacy for people to understand the biochemistry of nutrition, “The Guide: To Understanding Nutrition and the Body’s Response to Food”, which he published in 2018.
He was still busy enjoying his first years in his eighth decade, planning future trips, and long walks with whomever wanted to come along, staying fit and eating well on his early morning rise, when he would be proactively planning the day; he loved life.
He believed each day was the privilege to make choices that made a positive difference to the people you loved and the work that you did. Through all of those decades, the longest number of them, he spent as a playful guy with our adored kids and grandkids. In hundreds of family photographs, he was the playmate in any game, goofy in every dress up, airplane ride giver, stellar hide and seek player, breakfast every morning maker, unabashed Karaoke singer, and the guy you wanted when you needed someone to make things right.
Born in Portage la Prairie, the third child of Abraham and Rebecca Jacobs, in 1950, Morley
moved with his family to Winnipeg, his older siblings, brother Joe (OBM), sister Toba Isler (resides in Florida), settled in at 529 Rupertsland, where he made many lasting friendships over his lifetime. Raised with strong Jewish beliefs in an observant and caring family home, he studied at Talmud Torah, excelled at school, and acquired the foundations for community, family, honorability in character, and the value of knowledge.
Morley considered it fate that we met on his 18th birthday at a Rec-room party in 1956. Nine years later, we married at the Shaarey Zedek, on May 2nd, 1965.
Husband who treasured the miracle of us, who supported the fulfillment our mutual dreams, he was my person who stepped up in all of our critical hours, my trained Lamaze partner for the birth of our children; we were two young people, who raised each other higher as we grew older together. When we met it was instantaneous friendship and when we married, it was a bond of mutual adoration, with all of those glorious years together, sixty nine of them, whatever happened, our togetherness was a state of being that nurtured us all.
Beloved by his nieces, Pam Weinroth (Robert), Rhonda Kupfer (Sam), and nephews, Scott Jacobs (Heidi) and Mark Jacobs, for whom he was an active uncle, visiting whenever he could as they grew up and married, happily around long enough to play with their children.
Mahjong sit-in player for any game, Morley was a cribbage master, who did a daily Sudoku-chess and a cipher quiptoquote, while at the same time; he was a researcher par excellence who was able to make the most complex biochemistry understandable. Strong and agile, he was an athlete from youth, a track star and marathon runner, in high school a basketball player while through his life a huge fan of baseball and hockey, he was noted in his early teens as an avid ping pong player.
For all the years people knew him he was humble with his own notable achievements academically, but remained generous with intellectual sharing, correcting only with honorable concerns. It was his ease in praising and engaging in progressions that valued excellence, through all of his years, daily, Morley was the legacy of his smiles of confidence for others. Morley was a guy who frequented the pleasure of being forever joyous with children, and as every family pet could avow, he was the doted upon favorite.
His time here blessed everyone and everything, and we know he would hope to inspire that in others.
Etched into our collective family sharing of him, we are his memory keepers held to our own souls with enduring honor for how he conducted himself in his life, evermore: Children, Stephanie Jacobs-Lockhart and Morrison Jacobs; our son-in-law, Darwin Lockhart and daughter-in-law, Jennifer (Lisakowski) Jacobs; and our grandchildren, Jonah Samuel Lockhart, Elle Talia Lockhart, Adli Jayden Jacobs, Mazie Carolyn Jacobs, and me, Bev (Berkal) Jacobs, the woman who had the privilege of him for all of those years, nothing to mourn and everything to remember with joy.
Services were held at the Chesed Shel Emes, and the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery, officiated by Rabbi Matthew Leibl, attended by pallbearers, Morrison Jacobs, Adli Jacobs, Darwin Lockhart, Mark Makarovsky, Michael Meyers, and Mark Kogan.
Donations in memoriam may be made to a charity of your choice.
We know his spirit will continue to be a blessing for all, if there was a way his neshamah would find it; to be the valiant progenitor for a great renewal in this world, in peace, love and humanism.
Obituaries
ETTIE (EDDY) WERIER

Ettie Werier passed away in her sleep on July 25, 2025, at the Shaftesbury Park Retirement Residence in Winnipeg.
She will be hugely missed by her many friends and her family. Eddy was predeceased by her husband Lawrence, her younger sister Naomi (Wolfe), her older sister Sherry (Chochinov), her parents Max and Annie and her beloved grandson Koby.
Born Ettie Rubinfield in Ustryke Dolne, Poland in 1928, Eddy arrived in Winnipeg in 1931. She spent her childhood in the North End, where her parents ran a little grocery store on Alfred Avenue. She grew up to be a beautiful young woman with a warm smile and a quick mind.
She met Lawrence Werier, the love of her life, on a train ride to Winnipeg Beach. Eddy obviously wanted adventure, otherwise she would not have chosen Lawrence to be her beloved husband of more than 75 years, because he was always unconventional, but somehow this fit her perfectly. They were married in 1949 and started a family in 1952. While raising three children in River Heights, Eddy often travelled the world with Lawrence, visiting countless out-of-the-way beaches and dozens of countries.
Eddy had a quiet charisma. Maybe it was the mischievous sparkle in her eye or some droll bit of storytelling but all were attracted to her goodness, kindness and wit. Eddy was known for her intelligence, competitive spirit, and love for her family. She was an accomplished bridge player, and whether competing online or with her “bridge ladies,” she played to win, even on her last day. She was never an athlete, but at the age of 50 she took up tennis and became a force to be reckoned with until she retired her racket due to bad knees at the age of 85.
Eddy spent the last few years of her life enjoying the community at the Shaftesbury Residence and developed a strong and loving relationship with her companion and caregiver Tess Braun who is grieving the loss alongside the family, including Eddy’s surviving brother Jack Rubinfield. The family will especially miss the generous love and support she gave her children Kerry, Clifford and Jodie and their life partners Suzanne, Sabrina and Michael, and her grandchildren, Cynthia, Alex and Koby. Whether chatting with Grandma on Facetime or hugging her in her Shaftesbury suite, her family treasured the moments when we could come together in Winnipeg and bask in her smile. If you feel inclined to make a donation in Eddy’s memory, please choose a charity of your choice.
Obituaries
Dr. VELIMIR KON B.Sc., B.Ed., M.Sc., Ph.D. September 18, 1950-June 27, 2025

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Dr. Velimir Kon, or Shlomo, beloved husband of Branka and father of Deborah and Lea. Velimir was an accomplished teacher and academic, and he was renowned for his intellectualism, humility and humanity.
A gentle soul who was always sociable and who genuinely loved people, Velimir was equally at home in the university classroom as a professor and as a secondary school Biology, Chemistry and Math teacher in Northern Ontario (Big Trout Lake) and Manitoba (God’s River, Berens River). Velimir made a difference to many First Nations students throughout a career that spanned decades. He was dedicated to his students, colleagues and family. An adept and talented pianist, Velimir enjoyed the arts and of course Jewish humour. He was an avid shul goer and supporter of Israel and enjoyed his duties in shul as a Kohayn. Velimir was a man of faith who was able to fuse his love of science and Judaism.
Born in Croatia, Europe (the former Yugoslavia) to Shoah survivors Rose (Rochel, ne Lederer) and Arnold Kon (Ariel), Velimir immigrated to Canada with his wife and girls in 1988, making many personal sacrifices along the way to ensure a peaceful and safe life for his family. Adaptability and optimism characterized Velimir. Known for his heart of gold, Velimir touched the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing him. A love of Jewish values, family values and life-long learning and education characterized Velimir. With his charming, outgoing and friendly personality, Velimir welcomed everyone into his life and into our home.
His kindness, humour, generosity and goodness will be deeply missed by his family and friends in Winnipeg, Victoria, B.C., Guelph, ON, Osijek, Croatia, Belgrade, Serbia, Los Angeles and Boston, U.S.A., and Israel, Jerusalem, Haifa and Karmiel. Baruch Dayan Haemet.
A traditional funeral was held on June 30, 2025 at the Hebrew Sick Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can still be made to Chabad Lubavitch of Winnipeg, B’nai Brith or the JNF.
Velimir will be forever missed and cherished by Branka, Deborah and Lea.