Seymour

My Grandfather

My hero is my grandfather, Seymour. He loves to make people laugh. That is just one of his special talents. He is good at persuading people and he has a very creative mind. One of his best characteristics is his empathy for other people. He has an ability to put himself in others’ places and understand them. He always makes jokes, and can always find a way to brighten up the room. Once he went to visit his friend's elderly mother in the hospital. They didn’t want to let him in the room so he told them that he was a doctor. When he was there all the nurses called him “doctor” and she thought it was very funny. One of the nurses whispered to her how nice it was that her gynecologist would come to visit her in the hospital. She was extremely embarrassed (she was about eighty years old) but she remembered the incident fondly for years. He had a very successful business career and now he helps my dad by giving him advice on running the insurance brokerage company that he had started over fifty years ago.

My grandfather has done many important things throughout his life. He had a successful career in insurance and owned his own insurance brokerage called Seymour Alper Inc. He supports many causes and constantly makes donations to different foundations in need like CJA (Combined Jewish Appeal), CBB (Camp B’nai Brith) and the Montreal Torah Center.

My grandfather was born in Montreal in 1931. His parents were immigrants from Europe. He was the eldest child and had two sisters, Rhoda and Myrna. He went to camp CBB (Camp B’nai Brith) and when he got older he became a waiter there during the summer. As a young adult he worked as a waiter at a hotel in Ste. Agathe where he met my grandmother Lita. She grew up in Ottawa and she vacationed in Ste. Agathe with her family.

My hero is very important to me because of the all the wonderful things that he has done, not just for me but for others through his generosity. He is kind, generous, giving and loving. He is always there for me and my family. For the first five years of my life he visited me at home very single day, sometimes more than once. Right now he is in Israel. He has volunteered to help the army. They have assigned him to a tank repair base south of Tel Aviv. I am very proud that he is willing to donate his personal time to help like this. I am lucky to have him in my life. He isn’t only a hero to me, but he is a role model too.