HALIFAX — Lionel Druker, a native Nova Scotian who became the first tank driver in the Israeli Army in 1948 and later operated thriving tour bus and sightseeing companies in Israel, passed away Aug. 25 in Tel Aviv at age 85.
Born in Sydney, N.S., Druker was the second son of the late Max and Jennie Druker. After graduating from Sydney Academy, he attended Mount Allison University, but left in the spring of 1944 to join the Canadian Army. When World War II in Europe ended in May 1945, he volunteered to fight in the Pacific until the end of the war. He resumed his studies at Mount Allison in the fall of 1945. A year later, Druker was accepted into Dalhousie University Law School.
In December 1947, a few weeks after the United Nations voted to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, Druker was elected national president of Canadian Young Judea, a branch of the Zionist Organization of Canada.
When it appeared likely that a war would erupt, he volunteered to help defend the new State of Israel. Having been trained as a tank operator in the Canadian Army, Druker drove the only Israeli tank and became captain of the first tank corps. The tank he drove has been memorialized and is still displayed on stilts at a museum in Latrun, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
When a ceasefire was signed about 18 months after the start of the war, Druker had met Rachel Flasher, a Jewish native of pre-partition Palestine, and they were married.
Druker and business partner Arthur Goldberg, originally from Vancouver, started the tour bus company United Tours, as well as a tour company that they successfully ran for almost 25 years.
“Lionel’s success can be partly attributed to his charm and personality,” said his younger brother, Avvie, by telephone from his Sydney home. “I’m six years younger than Lionel and he left for university when he was 18 and I was 12, but in later years, as we’d visit here or in Israel, I recall Lionel as being great company and a good storyteller. He had a very interesting life.”
Druker is survived by his wife, Rachel; sons, Dror (Aviva), Tamir (Illana), Eyal (Cloudia); six grandchildren, all in Israel, and his brother, Avvie in Sydney. He was predeceased by his brother, Sid, of Toronto. Burial took place in Israel.
