TORONTO — A stalwart of Toronto’s Jewish community, Sam Sable, right, died at Baycrest Hospital on March 14. He was 95 years old.

One year ago, he was honoured by Associated Hebrew Schools for more than 60 years of work on behalf of the school and the Jewish community. A fund was established in his name at the time to provide tuition assistance.

A strong proponent of Jewish education who helped establish a fund in support of Jewish education in 1947, Sable was a founder and the first president of Toronto’s community Jewish high school, now known as the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto.

He was also involved in the Dr. Abraham Shore She’arim Hebrew Day School, and was a veteran fundraiser for Associated and other causes.

A former president of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation whose history with the shul goes back to the 1940s, Sable was also involved with many Israel-based hospitals and universities, as well as Baycrest, and the United Jewish Welfare Fund (a forerunner of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, where he served as the organization’s first president).

Sable’s efforts extended outside the Jewish community, too, where he was a board member of the Columbus Centre, an Italian Canadian community centre. He was honoured by the City of Toronto for his volunteer work.

Born in Zhitomir, in what is now Ukraine, in November 1912, Sable left with his family for Winnipeg as an infant. They later settled in Toronto, where he attended the Toronto Hebrew Religion School, known as the Simcoe Street Talmud Torah, an early incarnation of Associated.

Sable’s father, who had a store on York Street, used to seek out Jews arriving at the nearby train station and offer them assistance. Sable thus learned to show concern for other Jews and help those in need, Rabbi Asher Vale said in a eulogy.

A graduate of Jarvis Collegiate, Sable entered the University of Toronto but left during the Depression to work in the family shoe store after his father suffered a stroke.

He later achieved financial success buying and managing properties, and continued to go to work almost every day until January. A regular at Shabbat morning services, Sable switched in later years to Beth Tzedec Congregation, which was closer to his home.

In his volunteer work, Sable gave not only of his money, but of his “time, effort, body and soul,” Rabbi Vale said at the funeral.

Sable’s grandson, Jordan Sable, a teacher at TanenbaumCHAT, recalls his grandfather telling him, “After family, community is everything.”

He remembers his grandfather as a voracious reader and a “loving, strong, constant and incredibly energetic” force. The family patriarch took on a more nurturing role after his wife Jean died 15 years ago, taking his family out for dinner and attending his great-grandchildren’s birthday parties and school functions, Jordan said in a eulogy.

Sable was “one of a kind,” said Jordan’s brother Josh, who  like his brother is an educator at TanenbaumCHAT.

Sable had “a real zest and passion for life, and was always very positive. He was an extremely warm, and loving, and giving grandfather,” Josh Sable told The CJN.

Sable is survived by his three children Marlene Weller, Martin, and Heather Sable, five grandsons, and eight great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife Jean, and by his siblings Rose, Lily, Sam (from whom he differentiated himself by adding a middle initial to his name) and Florence.