We have received word that Yitz Apowitzer of Betar Canada has passed away.
Yitz was a leader of Betar Montreal, a stalwart of regular Betar activities in Canada and attended Camp.
Barak Koffler sent this picture of him.
Barak adds:
He came to Camp Betar from Betar Montreal in the mid-1960s.
He worked with the Yarden group for at least one summer, maybe more.
Yitz moved to western Canada a little later in life and took over a western-style (“cowboy”) hat manufacturing plant which he ran for many years.
Some of those hats were made for and worn by several U.S. Presidents. His hats were sold all over the world, and to foreign tourists who visited western Canada.
He eventually sold that business and moved to Toronto, Ontario, with his wife and two children. They lived in Thornhill, at the north end of the city.
Some years ago, he became a teacher at a Jewish religious school and as far as I know was still teaching there.
Yitz was always very jovial and the life of the party. He could be counted on to tell an endless stream of jokes and funny stories, many from personal experience, including family stories and travel stories.
We attended dinners at his place and he attended a get-together at our home, with several of the old chevrei from Toronto Betar and other friends. Lots of jokes from Yitz – he was the life of the party!
We will all miss him and his outgoing personality very much.
Here in Montreal in the summer of 1970, showing Yitz Aptowitzer with Harriet and Chaim Fishgrund.
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