JOSEPH CHORNEY

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JOSEPH CHORNEY December 26, 1919 May 12, 2008 Our father and grandfather Joseph Chorney, 88, the son of Paisach Chorney and Miriam Tessler passed away on May 12, 2008 at the Deer Lodge Centre. For more than 50 years he had lived with his wife Ethel Zipursky on Seven Oaks Ave. where they raised five children. He came to Winnipeg before the age of two with his parents and his brother Max and sister Toby. The family had emigrated from Kremenets Poland, to escape the persecution of Jewish people and the chaos of the Russian Civil War. Our father attended Strathcona and Aberdeen schools and in 1936 graduated from St. John's High School among the top students in his class. From 1936 to 1941 he worked in a variety of wholesale businesses and also briefly in the import business. It was during this period that he met our mother, whom he married in June, 1942. In 1942 he enlisted with the R.C.A.F in which he served as a radio and wireless mechanic. After the war he studied at the University of Manitoba graduating with a BSc. in Pharmacy in 1950. He worked at the Winnipeg General Hospital as a hospital pharmacist until 1955. He then acquired City Dispensary on Main near Selkirk Ave., where he tried to run a small community oriented dispensary from 1956 to 1964. From 1964 until the late 1970s he worked at a series of pharmacist jobs until he retired. Our father was an idealist who believed in social justice. He was one of the first pharmacists in Winnipeg to hire an Aboriginal pharmaceutical assistant and a person of colour. He was a strong supporter of education and learning. He loved the cinema, theatre, music, opera, books and intellectual debate. Ideas were an important part of his life. Predeceased by his brother in the early 1930s, his sister in 1963 and his wife Ethel in 2004, he is survived by his five children, Paul (Carol), Harold (Susannah), Andrea (Brian), Pamela (Richard) and Rhonda (Jayne), grandchildren Deanna, Sera; Sam, Jessica and Max; Joshua; Ashleigh (Isaac) and Morgan, and great- grandchild, Noah. He is also survived by his niece Penny and nephew Marlon Sinder, his sisters-in-law Ida Migie and Mary Maslove, his brother-in-law Dr. Jack Sinder, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. The family wishes to thank the staff on T5 at Deer Lodge Centre, as well as Terry and Su, for the care they provided over the past several years. Donations in honour of Joe's life can be made to the Canadian Diabetes Association, Oxfam, or a charity of your choice.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 24, 2008