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Meyer BROWNSTONE Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for Meyer BROWNSTONE
18 Entries
Brian Gifford
February 5, 2020
I have regretted that I didn't commemorate Meyer's death. I heard late and one thing led to another and here we are 10 months later. Meyer was a very close friend of my deceased wife Johanna Oosterveld for years through Oxfam. She was on the national board while he was chair and among many other things, she joined him and others as observers in the first free Namibian election, a momentous event and experience. After her death Meyer was adamant that Oxfam establish a fund in her name which he, Diane, myself and my current wife and friend of both Meyer and Johanna, Lee Seymour worked hard to make work for years, supporting first a marvelous health clinic in South Africa and later, female health empowerment projects in Zimbabwe. Alas it was an experiment that couldn't last. Lee and I continued to visit Meyer and Diane years later. He was an inspiration, dedicated to empowering people with no power and creating social structures that served people. A warm and lively human. A great influence. A great spirit. Brian
Harold Chorney
July 18, 2019
I have just learned of Meyer Brownstone's passing I had the great experience of having Meyer as one of my supervisors for my Ph d thesis at u of T from 198o to 82. He was a marvellous man kind intellectually inspiring and tolerant of political difference.He was also a good friend of my MA thesis supervisor Rubin Simkin with whom he shared many values and a commitment to social and economic reform and the recovery of this tradition in economics and public policy . A great teacher a compassionate man and a wonderful inspiration. My condolences to his family and friends.
April 21, 2019
Meyer was one of the finest scholars in Economics/ Political Economy at the U of T. His presentations were chock-full of interesting ideas.
As a supervisor of my work, he was also one of the easiest to work and laugh with :-)
Meyer was full of strength, humility, and so much compassion for the human condition.
My condolences to his family and close friends.
I will miss him deeply, but will honor him through Oxfam.
Scott Cawfield, Glendon College, York University.
Louise Mundt
April 20, 2019
I remember my family visiting often in OTTAWA.I loved the warmth and laughter that was plentiful.I remember waffles and ice cream and listening to Bob Dylan MPs.
My love and condolences to all.Louise(Rachlis)Mundt
April 13, 2019
Mine was an Oxfam conection too. He had a habit of 'firing' the staff people he loved most. I was fired a lot. I visited him whenever I could when I visited Toronto and he never seemed to change over the years. Always that twinkle in his eye, compassion, and lots of conversation about poltiics and the state of the wold. A very good, lovely man
Lee Seymnour
Halifax
Stephen Allen
April 12, 2019
I am saddened to learn of Meyer's passing. He had unlimited energy and a deep commitment to social justice. He lived much of this commitment through OXFAM-Canada.
I served as an NGO election observer in Mozambique for the country's first multi-party elections in 1994. Meyer was a member of our delegation. He brought much wisdom and critical insights to the delegation.
I am grateful and privileged for having known Meyer. My condolences to his family.
Stephen Allen
Murray Grant
April 9, 2019
We met Meyer and Mrs. Brownstone at the retirement dinner that honoured Louis Jacobs FCA, previous deputy minister of Municipal Affairs in Saskatchewan and my father-in-law. Meyer accomplished many good works in his lifetime so a pleasure to recall the occasion!
Terry Ross
April 8, 2019
Hard to believe Meyer is gone. He was always so full of life. Meyer had an exceptional and unwavering commitment to social justice, peace, and development. In my years as a volunteer with Oxfam I had many opportunities to discover his many talents and energy. He had a particular affinity with the young activists in Oxfam. He loved them and they loved him back.if there was a demo Meyer was at the front leading us on. Here was a man who truly "walked the talk".
I feel truly privileged to have had the opportunity to know and work alongside him. My life and many others were enriched by his company.
He will never be forgotten!
Terry Ross,
Former member,
National and Ontario Board,
Oxfam Canada
Lawrence Cumming
April 8, 2019
Meyer Brownstone was a legendary figure, brilliant, insightful, analytical, engaged, feisty, kind generous and, above all, totally committed to justice, peace, human liberation and the well-being of the planet. He was never one who finds it easy to love humanity but difficult to like people. He did both in abundance and with consistency and complete sincerity.
I had the privilege of serving as Oxfam-Canada's National Secretary (later re-titled Executive Director) for ten years. Meyer was the Chairperson of the Board of Directors the whole of that decade. He was my firm friend, mentor and supporter throughout the whole period. I am forever in his debt. I both loved and admired the man, and I mourn his loss. I also give thanks for the huge accomplishments he leaves behind in building a saner, more just and peaceful country and world. He inspired many to carry on his life's work. On this, his wide circle of friends and admirers will most assuredly agree.
When my late wife, Margaret, passed away some fifteen months ago, I received the most warm and wonderful expression of condolence and support from Meyer, one that reflected the depth of character and solidarity of this extraordinary human being whose own passing we now mourn.
My sincere condolences to Meyer's family.
I am sorry indeed that I cannot travel to Toronto tomorrow for the celebration of his life. This is a weekend very full of commitments that have effectively grounded me in Ottawa. However, I do want to assure all of you, and particularly those assembled tomorrow, that I am with you in spirit as you celebrate the life of this great and good man.
RIP, Meyer, my comrade and mentor. You touched this sad and troubled world in manifold ways. We urgently need many more leaders of your kind.
Meyer showing a documentary and walking in the block
Sylvie Goldfain
April 7, 2019
I met Meyer 5 years ago when I moved from France to Seaton village and became his neighbour. I heard of Meyer through the father of my son's friend who had been in a refugee camp in Honduras during the Salvador's civil war when Meyer was involved as Oxfam's chair in the management of such refugee camps.
Since then, we regularly visited Meyer. He was an amazing man and one of the people I cherished the most since I moved. We talked a lot and he explained to me about Canadian history and many historical events that he had lived closely: the set up of medicare in Canada, the first free elections in south Africa, the civil war in Salvador... But also current affairs as Meyer had never stop being interested in politics and what was happening in the world.
I want to share a picture where Meyer came home once and showed my sons a documentary on the refugees camp in Honduras. The documentary was based on pictures, audio recordings and interviews of Meyer. Meyer never missed an opportunity to continue to be an activist and create awareness :-)
But Meyer was interested in everything. I remember coming back from an opera and telling Meyer about it, and he started to sing the famous tune of this opera. I then discovered that he knew all the opera's famous tunes by heart. Meyer constantly surprised me by his knowledges and interest in everything.
He was loved by children and could relate with them very much. He was so caring for my 6 year old daughter who loved to come with me to visit him. I share another picture from last month of Meyer with my daughter Myriam, as we often shared a walk with him in the block. Even when the weather was rough, Meyer was keen to go out. And every saturday, he was walking to the Hockey arena to look at the kids playing Hockey.
In 5 years, I've accumulated so many souvenirs with Meyer... I feel very lucky to have met him and I miss him already.
Sylvie
April 7, 2019
Meyer was our neighbor, frequent dinner companion, eloquent story-teller, and wise grandfather figure to our family. We remember him fondly. Our sincere condolences to his family.
-Julie, Tom, and Klara
Jan Krouzil
April 6, 2019
My deep gratitude to Meyer for his patient guidance as my PhD supervisor at UofT, for his kind offer to write a letter to the former federal minister of foreign affairs in support of my mother's re-unification with her children in Canada and for his willingness to take part, along with his dear life-partner Diane in the gathering on the occasion of my marital union. I will always think fondly of our last encounter at the Bolton hockey arena, Meyer's favorite spot for observing the goings-on, where in our discussion of current 'politics' his uncompromising intellect and indomitable spirit ruled supreme.
John Williams
April 6, 2019
I served on the Oxfam Canada Board with Meyer during the turbulent 1970s. If I remember correctly, he succeeded his polar opposite, Hugh Keenleyside, as Chair of the Board. My most vivid memory of Meyer's leadership was when he summoned an emergency meeting of the Executive in May 1976 to deal with an insurrection by two of the staff who were unhappy with what they perceived to be the radicalization of the organization. They appealed to Oxfam in England to take over Oxfam-Canada and restore it to what they considered to be its original purpose. I flew with Meyer and a staff member to Winnipeg where he fired one of the dissidents and we secured the office. Oxfam-Canada survived the crisis and greatly prospered under Mayer's leadership.
Marc Dolgin
April 6, 2019
A mensch and a great Canadian. I'm proud to have known him.
Marc Dolgin
Leo Panitch
April 6, 2019
Meyer was one of the most creative, insightful and committed socialists I have ever known, not just in Canada but anywhere. I will miss most hearing the various rich ways all this came out so clearly in discussions about political lessons to draw from past experiences as well as about strategic options in the present, every time we met. The only other person of his generation I could compare this with was Tony Benn. But that Meyer and I could also share so many reminiscences about growing up in North Winnipeg, albeit 20 years apart from each other, was an added bonus. I will treasure forever how he refused to call me by any other name than by my Yiddish one, Label, with that ever so slight smile on his lips and that always bright twinkle of his eye. What a mentsch.
Martin Klein
April 6, 2019
This was a life well lived.His enumerable contributions to social justice, equality, and the well-being of the less fortunate will long be remembered. He was a good colleague and a warm and generous human being.
Evelyn Riggs
April 6, 2019
As a former staff and board member of Oxfam Canada, I remember with delight the moments spent in his company. He was simply the best. Much love to his family and friends. Gone but never forgotten. Rest in peace.
Showing 1 - 18 of 18 results
Memorial Events
for Meyer BROWNSTONE
Apr
7
Visitation
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Visitation Centre, Crematorium and Mausoleum375 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, ON M4T 2V8
Apr
7
Celebration of Life
2:00 p.m.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Visitation Centre, Crematorium and Mausoleum375 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, ON M4T 2V8
Funeral services provided by:
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Visitation Centre, Crematorium and Mausoleum375 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, ON M4T 2V8