Dorothy Samuel was born March 13, 1934. Her parents, Sam and Rose Goldhar, both immigrants from Poland, worked seven days a week operating a cigar store, as well as a delicatessen on St. Clair Avenue West near Northcliffe Boulevard. Dorothy, older brother Leo, and her parents lived in tight quarters behind the store until the family was able to purchase a detached home on Northcliffe just south of St. Clair. 

Dorothy attended Oakwood Collegiate then transferred to Forest Hill in her final year of high school. A good student, she enjoyed singing in a trio together with girlfriends Rosalie (Wise) Sharp and Carol (Weinstein) Epstein z”l. 

When Dorothy and Leo were teenagers, their parents rented a modest summer cottage on Lake Simcoe. In those days, all the Jewish kids hung out at the public pier. That’s where Dorothy met the love of her life, David Samuel. Coincidentally, David’s family also had a cottage in Belle Ewart and lived on Northcliffe Boulevard but north of St. Clair. 

Dorothy and David dated for several years, then married in 1954. By the time David was called to the Bar in 1957, Dorothy was a mother to two small children. By 1966, with David busy building his law practice, Dorothy was a busy mother to four young children. 

Dorothy’s background was not particularly religious, but her formative years were suffused with traditional Jewish values. She joined Hadassah and spent years with close friend Helaine Robins procuring, sorting, and selling fashionwear at the annual Hadassah Bazaar in support of Hadassah’s social welfare projects. She also participated in walkathons in support of UJA and research into cures for breast cancer. 

Dorothy and David were blessed to attend b’nai mitzvot in Israel for five of their eight grandchildren. Those moving trips, along with summers at the family cottage on Lake Simcoe surrounded by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, are among the couples’ most cherished memories. 

Nine decades of life experience have given Dorothy an appreciation for the vital institutions and critical community programs that sustain Jewish life here in Canada as well as in Israel. Together with her beloved husband David, of blessed memory, Dorothy established a donor advised fund at the Jewish Foundation to help safeguard Jewish life and Jewish values for generations to come. Her children and grandchildren wholeheartedly support that decision. 

Am Yisrael Chai!