Allan WEISS

WEISS, Allan
It is with a heavy heart that the family of Allan Weiss wish to announce his passing in the early hours of Monday morning, January 2, 2017. His life began in the small town of Botiz, a small farming village in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. There he led an idyllic life as the third of four children of the proprietor of the town general store. At the age of 14, he, his younger sister, Magda, and their parents became victims of the Nazi plan for the Jews of Europe as they ended up in the Auschwitz concentration camp. His parents and sister were killed in that place but Allan, old enough to be useful, was forced into slave labour as the assistant to a mason building Nazi industrial projects. He faced death many times during those years but providence had other plans for him as he was able to escape at the war's end and make his way to a displaced persons camp. By a quirk of fate his older brother and sister ended up in the United States during the war where his brother became a soldier in the American army stationed in Paris. One day a U.S. Army jeep showed up at the DP camp to pick him up with an extra uniform and soldiers saluted him all the way back to Paris where he was reunited with his brother after a separation of 7 years. By the grace of God and the help of good and decent people, Allan eventually found himself, in 1947, on the ocean liner the Aquitania on route to Halifax where he was accepted as an immigrant to this country - the best thing to have happened to him in all his life. His plan was to eventually join his brother and sister in the United States but as fate would have it he met an amazing young woman named Grace and the rest as they say was history. He came to this country penniless, without an education and without the ability to speak English so that the only option to him if he wanted to make something of himself and support his young wife and his four children to come was to work very hard - and that he did, as he worked seven days a week selling aluminum windows door-to-door in the suburbs of Toronto. Sales came naturally to him and it was only a matter of a few months before he became his company's top salesman. Eventually, he took a risk and he and a partner opened up a small window shop on Bathurst St. Ten years later, by the age of 29, he and his partners had factories across the country producing aluminum windows and related products. Allan was very blessed to have in his life amazing and wonderful people. He was forever grateful to the Montagnes family who took him in upon his arrival in this city and treated him like a son. His marriage to Grace made him a part of the Levine family, decent and good people all, and he was fortunate to be surrounded by a close-knit group of friends his whole life. One of his greatest pleasures was the weekly card game with the boys that lasted over 5 decades. Upon Grace's death, good fortune looked upon Allan in his second marriage to Lila, a fantastic and cultured individual who kept the family together and Allan happy. Although Allan suffered greatly in his early life and struggled with ill health and tremendous physical pain, his was a long and eventful life and when the time came he passed away contented and in peace entrusting his fate to the greater powers that be. He was predeceased by his first wife, Grace and by his sister, Margaret Amigo. He is survived by his wife, Lila; and his children, Jason, Cari and Rami, Gerald and Marie-Helene and Russell; by his brother, Nat; and by his six grandchildren, Emma, James, Benjamin, Gabriel, Matthew and Jonny. He is also survived by his stepchildren, Eric and Beth, Joanne, Suzie and Michael, Kevin and Joanne; and his step-grandchildren, Jessica and Louis, Rebecca, Sophie, David, Alex, Samantha, Zach and Daniel. Allan was also predeceased by his brothers-in-law, Harvey, Morris and Ron; and survived by Bernice, Alberta, David and Lucille and Murray and Joannie. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. at the Beth Tzedec Synagogue at 1700 Bathurst St. Interment will follow at Beth Tzedec Memorial Park, 5822 Bathurst Street. Shiva will take place at 101 Yorkminster Road, Toronto. Memorial donations may be made to The Beit Halochem Canada, 905-695-0611 or The Life and Hope Foundation, www.lifeandhope.ca or 416-634-3050.