Fred SCHAEFFER

1931 - 2023

FRED SCHAEFFER Passed away early Saturday morning, August 5, 2023, after a short illness, in his 93rd year. Born in Germany in 1931, he was the only child of Kate and Erich Schaeffer of Toronto. Fearing the worst for the Jews, his parents fled Germany in 1938 for Canada. They settled in Toronto, with Erich becoming the first organist and choir master of the soon-to-be-opened Holy Blossom Temple on Bathurst Street. Fred was a Harbord Collegiate graduate and went on to study civil engineering at the University of Toronto. He then apprenticed in a surveying firm to become an Ontario Land Surveyor. Soon thereafter, he opened a surveying practice in Toronto. This was followed by a successful engineering practice, which he ran for many decades. Both companies, which continue to use the Schaeffer name, are still thriving today. He married Beverly Kaplan from Kirkland Lake in 1955, and became a father of four children, Jonathan and Jennifer, David and Sasha, Daniel and Shoshana, and the late Ruth Ellen 'zl'; a grandfather of ten, Alexandra and Jordan, Natalie and Ben, Erich and Tatiana, Rebecca, Elinoa and Shimmy, Tamara and Yitz, Yona, Chaim Baruch, Joss, and the late Avi 'zl'; eleven great-grandchildren, Akiva, Kayla, Yehuda, Ahuva, Moshe Chaim, Menachem, Yael, Ari, Caleb, Madeline and Maya; and father-in-law of Stephanie. He was a man of his word, a lover of classical music and opera, and he had a profound knowledge of 19th century Canadian art. Together, Fred and Beverly built one of the finest private collections of Canadian art. They collected for over sixty years, while donating many masterpieces and a massive Canadian art library to numerous Canadian art institutions. He was generous to many charities in Canada and Israel, with a special fondness for the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He will be sadly missed by all his family members and many friends. At Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel, 2401 Steeles Avenue West (three lights west of Dufferin), for service on Monday, August 7th at 2:00 p.m. Interment to follow in the Beth Tikvah Synagogue section of Pardes Shalom Cemetery. Shiva at 18 Seinecliffe Road, Thornhill. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you give a donation to the Canadian Friends Of The Hebrew University: cfhu.org, 1-888-432-7398.