Involvement in Community and Political Life
Saul Laskin wearing Mayoral Chain of Office, ca. 1970
Benjamin Hollenberg was the first Jew to serve on the Fort William Board of Education. He was elected in 1912 and later became chairman of the board. The first Jewish alderman in the region, Jack Stitt, was elected to Port Arthur’s city council in 1956. He was joined by Saul Laskin in 1958. Saul became Mayor of Port Arthur in 1962 and then, as a strong proponent of amalgamation, was elected in 1970 as the first mayor of Thunder Bay, when a provincial bill was passed uniting Fort William, Port Arthur and the neighbouring townships of Neebing and McIntyre. Bora Laskin, Saul Laskin’s older brother, served as a Supreme Court justice from 1970 until 1984 and was named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1973.
Jerry Stitt served for 12 years on the Board of Directors of the YMCA as well as two terms as President of the Fort William Cancer Society. Syd Halter and Saul Laskin were both one time chairs of the board of governors at Lakehead University. Paul Driben served as chairman of the Anthropology Department at Lakehead University. Dr. Fred Ball was a chair of the Thunder Bay Jazz Society and served on the board of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. Paul Shaffer, born in Fort William in 1949, has risen to international prominence as the band leader of The Late Show with David Letterman.
