Morris Moishe LIGHTER (1911 - 1986)

Cemetery Back River Cemeteries
Location Section B'nai Jacob New Line 9 Grave 6 Map
Given Names Morris
Nickname Moishe
Surname LIGHTER
Hebrew Name Moshe ben Yehuda Leib
Hebrew Date 3 Nisan 5746
Birth Date 1911 Jun 28
Birth Place Romania
Death Date 1986 Apr 12
Death Place Montreal, QC
Burial Date 1986 Apr 14
Death Age 74
Father L.
Mother ROTHMAN, Marie
Spouse KRUPP, Beatrice
Relatives Wife Beatrice
Comments/Notes Founder of Moishe's Steak House
Obituary A funeral will be held today for Morris (Moishe) Lighter, founder and owner of the St. Laurent Blvd. landmark, Moishe's Steak House. Mr. Lighter, 74, died Saturday in the Jewish General Hospital. One of seven children born in a small town in Romania, Morris Lighter was 15 when he arrived alone in Montreal with nothing in his pocket but the address of a family friend. He landed a job on St. Laurent Blvd. as a bus boy learning the restaurant business. At 16 he went to work for Yankowitz and Julis, then a small steak house at 3961 St. Laurent Blvd. In 1938, Mr. Lighter sank his whole fortune - $300 - into a steak house at the same address and called it Romanian Paradise. The establishment built up a steady clientele, but diners suggested to its owner that Canadian soldiers being shipped overseas to fight in Europe might balk at the name. Unable to think of good catchy name, Mr. Lighter followed a friend's suggestion and renamed the restaurant Moishe's. Mr. Lighter used to personally select the top cuts of meat that attracted celebrities and gourmets from all over the world as well as a steady Montreal clientele. Once a week, Mr. Lighter would make his 5 a.m. rendezvous with the big Montreal packing houses to inspect sides of beef. His son Leonard who has taken over the business with his brother Larry, said yesterday his father loved hard work and remained active in the restaurant until the last few months, when illness forced him to slow down. But Mr Lighter never ate lunch, never table-hopped and never drank with customers, Leonard Lighter said. By 4 p.m. every day he was headed home for dinner with his wife, Beatrice whom he married in 1949. Mr. Lighter is survived by his wife, two sons, daughter Myra, sisters Ethel Libman, Rachel Wax, Esther Quallenberg, Rose Letterman and Jean Cogan, and two grand children, Shane and Michael. The funeral is at 11:15 a.m. today at Paperman and Sons, 5605 Cote des Neiges Rd. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Morris Lighter Memorial Fund, c/o Hemodialysis Unit, at the Jewish General Hospital.
Source GenealogieQuebec.com Deaths for birth, death Montreal, parents;
GenealogieQuebec.com Marriages 1949-03-11 marriage for given name Moe, birth 1908-06-28 [sic] Russia [sic], age 40
Marriage Quebec 1949-03-01
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