Abe Rotstein was educator, economic nationalist, family man

Abraham “Abe” Rotstein

TORONTO — To the Canadian public, Abraham “Abe” Rotstein was a prominent economic nationalist, an educator and a public intellectual who called for greater Canadian control over resources and the economy. 

But he was also remembered as a devoted father, grandfather, and brother, someone who enjoyed music and travel, was a sharp dresser who was known affectionately as “Count Rotstein,” and was not a particularly good driver.

Rotstein, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Toronto, died last week at age 86.

At his April 30 funeral at Benjamin’s Park Memorial Chapel, his son, Daniel, brother Morris and longtime friend Mel Watkins eulogized him as a beloved educator who possessed a sharp mind and a gentle touch.

Daniel recalled his father as a lover of the written word, who read and collected daily newspapers, international magazines and several publications from the Jewish press. “Rarely was any of these thrown out.” Instead his father collected stacks of yellowing and dusty articles for future reference.

His father “liked to look good” and was known for his ties, cravats and cigarette holder. He “loved being Jewish” and ensured his children received a Jewish education, Daniel said.

His father grew up in Depression-era Montreal at a time when universities enforced a quota to limit the number of Jewish students. That pushed him to excel in all he pursued and to expect top marks from his own children, Daniel said.

Music was important to his father. The house was filled with classical, jazz and Jewish music, and later world music. The family would play together in the Rotstein Family Band, with Abe on violin, Daniel said.

Morris recalled his brother as part of a generation who grew up in hard times but succeeded in their various walks of life.

Abe was an outstanding student who excelled in both English and Hebrew schools. He was a leader in the local Zionist Habonim Dror youth movement and “he inspired and educated a wide range of young people in the Zionist idea,” Morris said.

Abe studied economics at the University of Chicago and Columbia University before earning a doctorate from the University of Toronto. After some time in the private sector, he moved to academia. He edited Canadian Forum magazine, an important  and thought-provoking publication at the time, and helped found the Committee for an Independent Canada in co-operation with former finance minister Walter Gordon. Rotstein published The Precarious Homestead, perhaps his most famous book, in 1973.

His brother was concerned foreign corporations would buy up Canadian resources and corporations and that Canada would lose control over its own economic fate, Morris said.

“He was an active, interested and committed Canadian. He was also a committed son of the Jewish People,” Morris said.

Political economist Mel Watkins recalled a close friendship with Rotstein that spanned 55 years. Rotstein kept teaching long after his colleagues stopped doing so, he said.

In the 1960s, there was “a surge of pent up Canadian nationalism” and Rotstein was one of that movement’s “leading theorists and most prominent and innovative practitioners,” he said.

A public intellectual, he served as co-chair of the Canadian Institute for Economic Policy. Rotstein was a dissenter from mainstream politics and often found himself on the losing side of political debates, but he never lost his good cheer, Watkins said. He “was respected by his students as a gentleman, and as a gentle and patient person.”

Watkins recalled Rotstein as a great friend who “was always there for you. He was a good and wise person.”

Funeral services were officiated by Rabbi Miriam Margles, who noted Rotstein’s “fierce intellect” and his non-judgmental interactions with others.

“He walked through life as an educator” and delivered his last lecture – to his grandson Lev’s Grade 3 class, on the fur trade – only a few weeks ago.

“The world has lost a great teacher,” Rabbi Margles said.

Rotstein is survived by son Daniel and his wife Azeema, and daughter Eve Rotstein and Theo Wibisono, as well as three grandchildren, his brother Morris and Joan Charlap.