Vancouver philanthropist, businessman and billionaire Joe Segal has died at the age of 97.
He is survived by his wife of more than 70 years, Rosalie Segal, four children, 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
“He cared a lot about every member of his family,” Segal’s friend Ezra Shanken, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Jewish Federation, told Gloria Macarenko, presenter of On the Coast.
Segal, who was born in Vegreville, Alta., Was a self-made billionaire who started his business at age 14, selling frozen fish door to door by bicycle after his father’s death.
After serving in World War II, he opened an Army surplus business in Vancouver, which became the Field Department Store. He then bought Zellers and eventually switched to a stake in Hudson Bay.
Joe Segal, right, and his wife Rosalie. (Submitted by Joe Segal)
In recent decades, he has been primarily involved in real estate development with his company Kingswood Capital Corporation.
He frequented the Four Seasons Hotel, which closed in 2020, where he did some of the most important business of his career, including his 1988 acquisition of Block Brothers Realty, which turned him into a real estate mogul.
Joe Segal, right, and his friend Peter Legge talk about the four decades they dined together at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver in January 2020. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
In 1992, he received the Order of BC, and a year later, he received the Order of Canada.
In 2017, a mental health and addiction center was opened in Segal’s name after it donated $ 12 million for its construction in 2010. The total capital cost of the Joseph & Rosalie Segal Family Center was $ 82 million. of dollars.
Segal was rector of Simon Fraser University for six years and served on the school board for 12. In 2005, Segal Graduate School of Business in downtown Vancouver was named Segal and its contributions to university.
‘A family man’
Peter Legge, president and CEO of independent publishing company Canada Wide Media, said he shared many lunches with Segal for four decades, during which Segal would advise Legge on how to deal with personal and business issues.
Segal offered so much advice, in fact, that Legge wrote a book about the growth of Segal’s business empire and the wisdom he shared over the years, entitled Lunch With Joe.
“The influence he has had on my life, on the formation of my character … has been immense,” Legge said.
He says his love and commitment to Rosalie will be what he remembers most about his friend.
“You could say I loved her,” she said.
“He was a family man.”