SOLOMON YURMAN

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SOLOMON (SAM) (SHLOMO) YURMAN Shlomo Yurman passed away May 21, 2015, peacefully at the age of 94. He leaves behind his beloved wife, Tova of over 60 years, son, Ron Yurman (Anita Wortzman), granddaughters Lexie and Haley, brother Norman Yurman (Hedva) and his many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sisters, Rivka, Freda (Reuben) and Toni and his sister-in-law Henny (Reuben). Shlomo was also known as Saba, Sam or Solomon. In 2007, he wrote the story of his life - No Territorial Limits: My Life on Three Continents. He was born October 20, 1920 in Poland and moved to Canada in 1937. Shlomo was a vegetarian with dual Canadian and Israeli citizenship. He worked as a watchmaker, diamond appraiser and dealer, journalist and translator. As a teenager he overcame the strangeness of a new country learning English at a rapid pace. He prided himself in being a loyal son and brother. He dropped out of school in grade 10 to help support his family. In 1938 Sam participated in the restructuring of the young Judea group in Winnipeg with the goal of making Aliyah. As one of 40 members of Machal from Winnipeg, Sam left for Israel in 1948 to join the fight for the Statehood of Israel as an aircraft instrument mechanic. In January of 1955 he married Tova. They had a baby girl who they lost after 18 short months. They persevered and were eventually blessed with a healthy child, Ron. In 1972, Sam and Tova moved to Israel and made Aliya with Ron. Once settled in Israel, Sam developed his diamond business with a seat on the Diamond Exchange. He pursued his love of writing as the Israeli correspondent to the Winnipeg Free Press filing stories about Winnipeggers in Israel. In 2005, Shlomo and Tova returned to Winnipeg. This was difficult for Shlomo but making sure that Tova was taken care of was key to this decision. Tova was the love of his life and up until last week he visited her daily at the Simkin Centre ensuring she was cared for in a compassionate way. For the last 10 years of his life, Sam lived on his own terms in his own apartment. Aside from his visits to Tova, his primary link to the outside world was facebook and linked in where he stayed in contact with old friends and family from all over the world. His curious mind, independent spirit, love of Israel and love of his family were evident until late in the day Wednesday. He was asking questions up to his last breath. We had a debate at around 5 p.m. as to what he preferred to be called by the nurse- Solomon (his legal English name), Sam (his English nickname) or Shlomo (his Hebrew name). We settled on Shlomo, his Hebrew name. Shlomo, you will be missed. A graveside funeral was held on May 22, 2015 at the Shaarey Zedek cemetery.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 30, 2015