A man who held almost every leadership position in the Ottawa Jewish community and was involved in building the Ottawa Hospital, died Feb 10. He was 90.
Solomon “Sol” Shinder became a real estate lawyer at a time when Jews weren’t being hired by major law firms. The three medalists in Shinder’s 1960 Osgoode Hall Law School class of 206 lawyers “were brilliant, Jewish and none of them got a job with any prominent non-Jewish law firm,” Shinder said during a presentation about the history of Ottawa’s distinguished Jewish lawyers in 2019, according to the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.
“Virtually all of the ‘white shoe’ law firms were predominately made up of ‘WASPs,’” Shinder said, “and up until the early 1970’s they rarely employed Jews, women and other minorities as lawyers.”
As a result, it was common for Jewish lawyers to form their own firms. As a young lawyer, Shinder and his close friend Arnell Goldberg formed Goldberg, Shinder; which eventually became Goldberg, Shinder, Gardner, Kronick, & Tavel, one of Ottawa’s most prestigious law firms. Shinder’s specialization, land use planning, and his expertise in developmental and municipal law made him a city hall staple, where he represented local and national developers across a three-decade legal career.
“Much of the skyline of this city bears the imprint of that work with the buildings dad helped create in the 1980s and ’90s,” his son Jeffrey said at Shinder’s funeral.
“But most important is the legacy Dad left the legal community,” he added. “Thirty years after Dad left the practice of law, virtually every firm in Ottawa that has a partner, started an ownership that was mentored by Dad.”
Shinder eventually left the practice of law when his younger brother, Lionel, died, becoming instead one of the principals of his brother’s real estate brokerage and property management firm, District Realty, a role which his nephew Jason has taken over. Jason Shinder told the Ottawa Business Journal that Sol was instrumental in spearheading new Ottawa zoning concepts, including allowing developers to build an office complex on Cooper Street using strata titles in the 1970s. But despite Shinder’s successful business practices, he “believed in being completely honest and completely transparent.
“His own personal needs and wants never took priority over what was best for his clients and the people that he was helping,” Jason told The CJN.
One of Shinder’s proudest accomplishments was in helping form the Ottawa Hospital. Shinder was appointed by the Ottawa City Council in the 1970’s to chair the Ottawa Committee of Adjustments, and also served for 11 years as the last chairman on the board of trustees for the Ottawa Civic Hospital in the 1990’s (which was, at the time, the oldest and the largest teaching hospital in the capital). He led the Civic Hospital in the negotiations that led to the founding of the Ottawa Hospital through merging the city’s three largest hospitals (the General, the Riverside, and the Civic) in 1998.
In addition to helping to develop much of Ottawa, Shinder also loomed large in its Jewish community, holding almost every leadership position available. Shinder was born the same day that the Ottawa Va’ad Ha’Ir (now the Jewish Federation of Ottawa) was formed and became its chair in 1982, earning him the nickname the “Va’ad Father.” He received the Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Service Award in 1986, for his leadership in the Ottawa Jewish Community, the highest award that the Ottawa Jewish Community bestows.
“There were a lot of Va’ad Ha’Ir presidents, but there were only a very few that are outstanding in terms of commitment,” said Stephen Victor, who was chairman of the Va’ad after Shinder and was a friend of his for over 60 years. “He was one of them.”
Andrea Freedman, who met Sol while she was president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, said he “understood leadership by example.”
“I remember when we had a Zoom with all the top donors in the community at the beginning of the pandemic, because we’d launched an emergency campaign, and our intent was really just to lay out the campaign for people,” Freedman said.
“And when I finished my spiel, Sol said, ‘Andrea, are you taking donations? I’d like to make one.’ He’d wanted to publicly announce it, to really set the bar for others. And that’s the kind of leader he was.”
According to his own family, Sol’s devotion to his community was instilled in him during his childhood. And he used to tell his family stories about his parents’ involvement in the Zionist movement when he was young.
“He fondly remembered [his parents] hosting an event at their house where (former Israeli prime minister) Golda Meir came,” Jason said. “He and my aunt Ethel, his older sister, [sat] at the top of the stairs listening to her speak in their family room. Israel always held a special place in his heart.”
While proud of his many accomplishments in Ottawa and its Jewish community, Shinder was even prouder of his family, of which he was its patriarch.
“About his leadership in the Jewish communal organizations and in the synagogue, and of these roles, he was justly proud,” said Rabbi Erin Polansky at his funeral. “But it was when he began to speak about his family, his sons, his beloved nephews, his grandchildren…then the light began to shine from his eyes, and his face changed.”
Sol married his wife Zelaine in August 1960. According to Jeffrey, Shinder was “never happy” if his wife was not around.
“He needed her close, and was most comfortable and relaxed when she was near him,” Jeffrey said in his eulogy.
“Mom and Dad did everything together. They traveled the world together. They played golf together. They collected art together. They built beautiful homes together.”
Sol Shinder is survived by his wife Zelaine, his sons Neil and Jeffrey, his nephew and his “third son” Jason, his sisters Ethel, Bea, and Margo and six grandchildren.
