{"id":32721,"date":"2019-06-07T03:53:40","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T10:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=32721"},"modified":"2019-06-05T15:15:19","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T22:15:19","slug":"dayson-successful-in-business-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/06\/07\/dayson-successful-in-business-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayson successful in business, love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dayson Here<\/em><\/strong> portrays Ben Dayson\u2019s innate business acumen and his economic success, as well as his unwavering devotion to his wife, Esther.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Following the publication of the Nemetz family biography Don\u2019t Break the Chain: The Nemetz Family Journey from Svatatroiske to Vancouver<\/em>, in 2017, comes a new book called Dayson Here: The Story Behind the Voice<\/em>, compiled and written by Shirley Barnett and Philip Dayson.<\/p>\n

Anyone who met Ben Dayson knows he was larger than life. Standing at five feet, six inches (or thereabouts), he was a giant among men. People knew him for many things, but primarily his business success, his deep and abiding love for his \u201cbeautiful wife\u201d Esther, and his close family. What\u2019s missing from that picture are his modest beginnings in Ukraine, the journey that brought him to Vancouver, and the man behind the voice. The new book, comprised mainly of direct quotes from Dayson \u2013 thanks to the Dayson\/Barnett families and the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia \u2013 and black-and-white photos, tells a more intimate story of his life. My favourite quote of his is: \u201cI know nothing and you know even less!\u201d Pure Ben Dayson.<\/p>\n

The book portrays not only Dayson\u2019s innate business acumen and the extent of his economic success, but also his unwavering devotion to his wife, Esther. She was the epicentre of his life, the voice of reason and the sole calming influence in his life.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that Dayson was an extraordinary character. He made his presence known, and loved to \u201cwork a room.\u201d Within the space of a few hours, he could be loud, moody and assertive in his office, then morph into a charming, polite man in a social setting.<\/p>\n

Dayson was very interested in real estate development, first residential and, later on, commercial. He had a natural business sense, despite having little to no formal education. There\u2019s no question that his obsession with building and developing fed the fire in his belly. He\u2019d often drive friends around to visit his buildings.<\/p>\n

Starting life in Canada wasn\u2019t easy, but, with determination and sheer energy, he parlayed his first business ventures into greater and greater things. Ironically, his difficult start in life (his father died when Dayson was 15) primed him for later success. Having witnessed pogroms and antisemitism, Dayson was determined to have a better life for himself and his family. When a cousin in Kamsack, Sask., sent papers to help him come to Canada, that gave Dayson the impetus to build that good life. Traveling from Ukraine to Moscow, then Riga, Berlin and Rotterdam, Dayson\u2019s world opened up. In Rotterdam, \u201che became acquainted with new things in life \u2013 chocolate, coffee, white bread and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Dayson became impatient to get to Canada. In anticipation of his future, he bought a few essentials: a new suit, a pair of shoes and a hat, which left him with only $7. His arrival in Canada took him from Halifax to Montreal to Winnipeg and then to Kamsack, where he settled in 1927. Beyond most everything else, gaining Canadian citizenship was one of his proudest accomplishments. A more patriotic man you could not find.<\/p>\n

Friends from his hometown sent word that Esther Nemetz, who grew up just blocks from Dayson in Ukraine, was living in Vancouver \u2013 and she was a beauty. Despite never having met her, Dayson began a correspondence with her in 1931. He courted her by mail, despite that she was engaged to a doctor from London, Ont. Dayson\u2019s trademark perseverance won the day and their romance grew. As some people know, Dayson began life as Boruch Deezik, but, at the urging of his wife-to-be, he Americanized his name and became Ben Dayson.<\/p>\n

Nemetz\u2019s six brothers had done well since their arrival in Canada and she benefited from their generosity, having the \u201cwedding of her dreams,\u201d after which, the couple moved to Viscount, Sask., where Ben Dayson had already purchased a general store. The book recounts that \u201cEsther sold her furs and diamond rings to help buy inventory.\u201d Their business grew, they made more money, and became community leaders.<\/p>\n

Working together as partners, Ben and Esther Dayson grew their family and built a good life. They moved to Saskatoon and bought a meat market, which also did well. In 1949, Esther suggested they move to Vancouver, since her six brothers and two sisters lived there. Living in the big city, the Daysons involved themselves in the Jewish community, surrounded themselves with extended family and expanded their social circle.<\/p>\n

In 1951, Dayson discovered real estate and became consumed by it; he built numerous apartment buildings in Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, New Westminster and West Vancouver. He had a remarkable sense of what would work and what wouldn\u2019t in the real estate world. He was a pragmatist and a savvy, self-taught businessman. In the 1970s and 1980s, he discovered industrial property, and the book paints a picture of a tenacious but principled man who always got what he wanted. Unless his wife vetoed it.<\/p>\n

Throughout their life, Ben and Esther Dayson were great philanthropists and ardent supporters of Israel. Among the many causes they supported was the Richmond Public Library, where I was first introduced to Ben. Having built the first high-rise apartments in Richmond and benefited from them, Dayson felt he owed a debt of gratitude to Richmond. So, in 2004, the couple gave $50,000 to the Richmond Public Library Endowment Fund, one of the library\u2019s largest single donations.<\/p>\n

An avid reader and lover of books, Ben Dayson also gave most of his personal Judaica book collection to the library, and established the Ben and Esther Dayson Judaica Collection at the Brighouse (Main) Branch. Thanks to the Daysons, the library is now home to one of the Lower Mainland\u2019s largest Judaica collections, and includes Jewish books, DVD movies and newspapers. In 2004, Ben Dayson was awarded the British Columbia Library Association Keith Sacr\u00e9 Library Champion Award for his support of libraries, literacy and public access to information.<\/p>\n

As a senior librarian at the Richmond Library, I had the honour and pleasure of working closely with Ben Dayson to develop this collection. He maintained a hands-on approach to the collection, and would regularly buy and donate Jewish-themed books to the library. Always insisting on an accurate (and usually immediate) accounting of the books he donated, I would often get calls from him, asking (telling?) me to come to his home with the library\u2019s laptop, so I could type out an author\/title list of the books he donated.<\/p>\n

This was a regular occurrence. But I remember one particular time when there was a bad snowstorm. It was a Friday night and my home phone rang at around 8 p.m. It was Dayson. He said, \u201cI have books for you. Come and get them.\u201d I recall asking him, \u201cYou mean right now?\u201d To which, naturally, he replied, \u201cYes.\u201d It was around 2006 and I didn\u2019t yet own a personal laptop. Knowing that few people ever say no to Ben Dayson (and live to tell the tale), I drove through the snowstorm to his home, bearing a pad of paper and a pen. The rest is history.<\/p>\n

Dayson Here: The Story Behind the Voice<\/em> is filled with fascinating information about the Dayson family business. But there are also plenty of surprising and humorous anecdotes demonstrating how passionate Ben Dayson was about issues that offended him personally. He pursued causes until he got a satisfactory resolution, or was forced to give up the fight, like when the government revoked his driver\u2019s licence at age 95.<\/p>\n

As Shirley Barnett said so eloquently in her father\u2019s eulogy, Ben Dayson \u201clived his life loud and clear.\u201d It\u2019s nearly impossible to encapsulate the enormity of his personality, but this book does just that, with humour, honesty and love. His headstone says it all: \u201cOnce met, never forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copies of Dayson Here<\/em> are available at the RPL Brighouse branch, the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver or by contacting the authors directly.<\/p>\n

Shelley Civkin<\/strong> is a happily retired librarian and communications officer. For 17 years, she wrote a weekly book review column for the <\/em>Richmond Review, and currently writes a bi-weekly column about retirement for the <\/em>Richmond News.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dayson Here portrays Ben Dayson\u2019s innate business acumen and his economic success, as well as his unwavering devotion to his wife, Esther. Following the publication of the Nemetz family biography Don\u2019t Break the Chain: The Nemetz Family Journey from Svatatroiske to Vancouver, in 2017, comes a new book called Dayson Here: The Story Behind the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[9045,4242,6684,130,8245,4921,9046,1755],"class_list":["post-32721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-ben-dayson","tag-history","tag-jewish-museum","tag-jmabc","tag-philip-dayson","tag-richmond-public-library","tag-rpl","tag-shirley-barnett"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}