Vancouver-based 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 so deeply for each member of his family,” Segal’s girlfriend Ezra Shanken, chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, told On the Coast host Gloria Makarenko.
Segal, who was born in Wegreville, Altai, is a self-made billionaire who started a business at the age of 14, selling frozen fish door-to-door on a bicycle after his father’s death.
After serving in World War II, he opened a surplus army business in Vancouver, which became Field’s department stores. He then bought Zellers and eventually traded for a stake in Hudson’s Bay.
Joe Segal, right, and his wife, Rosalie. (Submitted by Joe Segal)
In recent decades, he has been involved mainly in property development with his company Kingswood Capital Corporation.
He visited the Four Seasons Hotel, which he closed in 2020, where he made some of the biggest business deals of his career, including the acquisition of Block Brothers Realty in 1988, which made him a real estate mogul.
Joe Segal, right, and longtime friend Peter Ledge talk about their four decades of dining together at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver in January 2020 (Ben Nelms / CBC)
In 1992 he was awarded the Order of BC, and a year later he was awarded the Order of Canada.
A mental health and addiction center named Segal was opened in 2017 after donating $ 12 million to build it in 2010. The total capital cost of the Joseph & Rosalie Segal family center was $ 82 million.
Segal was rector of Simon Fraser University for six years and served on the school’s board of directors for 12. In 2005, the Segal Graduate School of Business in downtown Vancouver was named after Segal and his contribution to the university.
“family man”
Peter Lege, chairman and CEO of the independent publishing company Canada Wide Media, said he has shared many lunches with Segal over four decades, during which Segal will advise Lege on how to deal with personal and business issues.
In fact, Segal offers so much advice that Lege is the author of a book on the growth of Segal’s business empire and the wisdom he shares over the years, entitled Lunch with Joe.
“The impact he had on my life in shaping my character … was huge,” Lege said.
He says that his love and devotion to Rosalie will be what he remembers most about his friend.
“You could say he loves her,” he said.
“He was a family man.”
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