Obituaries
MONTE BARRETT RABER April 30, 1935 – July 18, 2021
Monte Raber passed away suddenly at the age of 86 years on July 18, 2021, Tisha B’Av 5781. He lived a full life and had a tremendous positive impact on so many people, many he never even met.
Monte was a devoted and loving husband, father, Zaida and Great-Zaida, brother, son, uncle, and cousin. He was born to immigrant parents and lived his whole life in Winnipeg. As a child his parents, Aron (Harry) and Marcia worked tirelessly to make a better life for him, and instilled in him the importance of family, lessons he learned well, and passed on to his children and grandchildren.
He was a big brother to sisters, Leah and Carol (Arnold), and he remained very close with them and their families, as he was with his sister-in-law Ruth (Joe) and her family, being a favourite uncle to his many nieces and nephews.
Monte attended St. John’s High School where he earned the reputation of being a bit of a nerd who loved books, science, mathematics and photography. He excelled in school and earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering (1957) and Masters of Engineering (1966) degrees from the University of Manitoba, specializing in Electrical Engineering.
Being an Engineer defined Monte. It was not just his vocation, but his passion, his way of life, and it greatly influenced his way of thinking and problem solving every day. He was a perfectionist and it showed in everything he did.
Monte and Myrna (Golden) met as teenagers, had a courtship lasting through university and were married on June 9, 1957. Mom and dad just celebrated their 64th Wedding Anniversary.
Once Monte joined the Golden family, he always treated his in-laws, Fanny and Murray Golden, as he did his parents, Harry and Marcia, with the utmost respect and care.
Together mom and dad raised 3 strong independent children, Avis (Ari z”l), Eileen and Earl, with deep roots in Yiddishkeit and Jewish values, and the importance of family. Dad and Mom led by example how to raise our own children.
Dad leaves a large legacy with mom of 10 Grandchildren: Mark (Samantha), Daniel (Diana), Jonathan and Benjamin Lipson, Joshua, Rachel and Arielle Block, and Matthew, Megan and Mika Raber, and 3 great-grandchildren, Ethan, Jacob and Isaac Lipson. He had a special and unique relationship with every grandchild. He taught them all to drive and in their adult years they shared jokes and sought out his sage advice on life decisions.
Monte began his career at the Atomic Energy of Canada Nuclear Research Facility in Chalk River, Ontario. He was then recruited as one of the first Biomedical Engineers creating a state-of-the-art department at Winnipeg’s General Hospital, now the Health Science Centre (to Monte, always “The General”). Monte was a ground-breaking world renown pioneer and leader in the field of Biomedical Engineering and patient safety. He built and led the Biomedical Engineering department at “The General”, one of the first such dedicated departments in North America at the time, for over 20 years. He did cutting-edge original research, had over 40 publications and 4 patents, and helped design Intensive Care Units (ICUs).
Monte helped pioneer the art and science of electronic monitoring of patients, especially Respiratory and Cardiac patients, and also develop modular ICU monitoring which changed the way medicine was delivered. One of his particular areas of expertise was pacemakers, which were novel at that time. Monte was on-call working with physicians in the operating room setting up the pacemakers to ensure they paced the heart correctly. He worked tirelessly setting up new national and international multi-discipline committees to better understand the effects of pacemakers and to create standards for their production, use, and most importantly, safety.
In 1978 Monte was recruited to the business world by medical equipment maker Harco Electronics, where as Vice President, he helped develop innovative new equipment and modernize production techniques and increase sales.
In the mid-1980’s, at age 50, in typical Monte fashion, he took up new challenges, returning to teaching and then private consulting. First, he returned to the University of Manitoba, where he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, and then Red River Community College where he created a new curriculum in BME (Biomedical Engineering) teaching a new generation of engineering students and technologists, which he loved and inspired him. Monte always had a special interest in patient and Medical Device Safety, and throughout his life he was one of the most dedicated and involved Life Members of the CSA, the Canadian Standards Association, with a special focus on electrical grounding and safety.
Monte’s engineering and problem-solving expertise was highly sought after by all levels of government in Canada, the United States and world-wide, by many varied businesses, including Mining companies, Aerospace and Defence Industries, as well as software companies. Monte continued his successful private consulting through his beloved company, Systems Electronics Ltd (SEL), until the day of his passing.
Dad and Mom travelled with his conferences to Israel, Europe, Asia, and South America. Over the past 10 years, they enjoyed wintering in Palm Springs, CA.
Throughout his life, Monte approached everything he did with quiet confidence and a positive outlook. He remained committed to continuous improvement, learning and research his whole life. He was just about to submit his most recent paper for publication at the time of his passing.
Monte’s “fix it” skills were legendary. He was a “Fixer Extraordinaire” of all things. He maintained an amazing workshop in the basement of his home, and his workbench was where MAGIC HAPPENED. It was where innovative projects were developed from ideas on his drafting table, to real life working prototypes. This was where things were created and fixed ranging from state-of-the-art lifesaving medical equipment to relatives’ and neighbours’ appliances, toys, musical instruments and even our Mom’s jewelry. If he didn’t know how to fix it (which was rare), he figured it out. Each project was treated with the same level of expert attention. We were all amazed at the breadth and depth of his knowledge.
At his workbench, Dad taught us how to complete an electrical circuit, the art of carpentry, science and medicine (‘measure twice… cut once’), all lessons which have served us well in our lives. He also had a deep love of the outdoors and camping, which he instilled in all of us.
He taught us critical life lessons by example: how to treat every single person with respect, the importance of hard work and perseverance, the satisfaction of a job well done, and how to be calm under pressure and in crisis.
Dad always enjoyed a good book, especially mysteries, reading late into the night and wee hours of the morning. And he always loved a good nap. He had a unique sense of humor. Sometimes only he understood his jokes, but that never stopped him from laughing at them. Dad had a discerning palate, but also had the ultimate child-like sweet tooth; all his grandchildren knew where he kept his candies, and he looked so forward to sharing with them.
Monte practiced Tikkun Olam… Repairing the World… every single day. He was honest to a fault, a man of impeccable character and integrity. His definition of success was never money or fame. He was not driven to ‘win’, or by monetary incentive, but to learn, to do kindness and to help others. “They will pay me when they can”, he would say. Mostly he took pride “in a job well done”. He would always try to do “the right thing, the right way”. He was never jealous or petty. He was confident in himself and his abilities, and this allowed him to always celebrate the success of others; a true sign of just how exceptional he was. He was gentle and patient, a wonderful mentor and skilled teacher. He was generous and caring, performed countless acts of random kindness for strangers; often donated more than he could afford, usually anonymously. He was erudite and was one of the smartest people we ever knew, being full of knowledge and wisdom, and was humble and soft-spoken. But he
also ‘suffered no fools’; He ‘called them, as he saw them’, and was brutally honest with everyone, especially those he cared most about, when we did something foolish.
Monte was courageous, was the forever optimist, and was always up to all challenges. Perseverance was his motto. He did not give up.
Above all, Monte Raber was a MENSCH. We don’t know anyone who met Monte who did not respect him. That was one of the most amazing things about him. Whomever he interacted with, personally or professionally, knew they were talking to a man of great intellect, quiet dignity and respect.
They say that in life, all you have is your name. And what a good name Monte had. To this day, strangers come up to us and ask: “Are you related to THE Monte Raber?”
Monte was the Patriarch of our family. He was our “FIXER”, of all things big and small.
He was our ROCK.
Monte’s sudden passing leaves a gaping hole in all our lives. We will never forget what you taught us about life, and how to live cup half-full. We will think of you always: your laugh, your smile, your insights and your logical solutions. We will miss your trademark phone answering salutation: “Raber Here”; and all the wise advice that followed. Monte, our eternal optimist, never said goodbye. Instead, he ended every conversation by saying: “KEEP SMILING!”. With love and broken hearts, this is how we will always remember you.
A graveside funeral service was held at Shaarey Zedek Cemetery July 21, 2021. Pall bearers were his grandchildren, Mark, Daniel, Jonathan, Benjamin, Rachel, and Matthew.
For all who provided messages of condolence, calls, meals and support to the family, we gratefully thank you.
To honor the memory and legacy of Monte Raber, a donation may be made to The Monte and Myrna Raber Fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, where a Scholarship fund is being set up for an Electrical Engineering student at the University of Manitoba with a special interest in Biomedical Engineering. www.jewishfoundation.org (204) 477-7525.
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.