Mike Boone Gazette Article

Monday, May 7, 2007

Grad list reads like who's who of Canadian movers and shakers

MIKE BOONE

The Gazette [Page A-7]

Friday, May 04, 2007

It's the Overachievers Ball: 127 men and women who aced high school and have been kicking butt ever since.

The Class of 1957 was the first to graduate from Outremont High School. Their 50th anniversary reunion will take place tomorrow night at the Sheraton Four Points on Cote de Liesse Rd.

Doctors, dentists, lawyers and business executives will trade reminiscences with politicians and a world-renowned academic: Gerald Allan Cohen, "Jerry," as he was known to his Outremont classmates (and to me at red diaper baby summer camp) is Chichele professor of social and political theory at All Souls College, Oxford. Predecessors in the professorship include Isaiah Berlin and Charles Taylor.

Tomorrow night, Cohen will talk political theory with two practitioners. The Outremont High class of '57 included Irwin Cotler, who is member of Parliament for Mount Royal riding, and Lawrence Bergman, member of the National Assembly for D'Arcy McGee.

Going through the grads list posted on the reunion's photo-filled web site - www.outremont-high.com - a few other names stand out:

- Lionel Chetwynd studied law at McGill and Oxford. He ended up in show business, with 40 feature film and long-form TV credits, including the movie adaptation of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.

- Arnie Gelbart is CEO of Galafilm. His productions include the Emmy Award-winning Cirque du Soleil: Fire Within.

- Lazarus Caplan began as an auditor at Pratt & Whitney and became the company's CEO.

- Sol Zukerman's varied business career has included stints as a clothing and footwear exec - not to mention Montreal Disco King, when he ran the popular 1234 club on Mountain St.

The students had begun their high school education at Strathcona Academy. They switched to Outremont for their final year when the new school opened in September 1956.

Strathcona had been built in 1898 and looked its age. Outremont was brand, spanking new: shiny floors, two large gyms and a fully equipped shop in which future brain surgeons and periodontists endeavoured not to lose their fingers.

"It was a different type of school," said Frances Margolis, nee Rubenstein, who, with 15 of her Outremont classmates, has spent the last year planning the reunion. The difference was a stress on academics.

"Our parents were immigrants," Margolis, 67, recalled. "For them, schooling was Number 1. We took Latin, all the difficult subjects."

But it wasn't all Ovid and Euclid. Margolis recalls fun times at Outremont and contrasts the atmosphere to her grandchildren's more angst-ridden high school experiences.

Cohen, whom Margolis remembers as "the class clown," will be at the reunion to make a special presentation to Chetwynd, who writes for the Weekly Standard and National Review, situating himself well to the right of the Oxford prof's location on the political spectrum.

Margolis grew up on McEacheran Ave. She married her Strathcona Academy sweetheart, Dave Margolis, shortly after graduating from Outremont and did not go to university.

Most of her classmates did. In the 1957 high school leaving exams, the new school placed 11 students among the province's top 25. For years afterward, Outremont grads would top the "matrics."

Now the 50-year-old building on Dollard Blvd. is an adult education centre

"The school is just not the same, and the ladies have to get their hair done," said Margolis, explaining why the grads won't be making a nostalgic visit tomorrow. "We opted instead for a brunch on Sunday."

mboone@thegazette.canwest.com

Faigie Rashcovsky Coodin - May 4, 2007: The email I sent to Boone @ Gazette, and his response.

Dear Mr. Boone,

I enjoyed reading about the reunion which I will be attending. I do believe though, that the reporting was somewhat unbalanced. There are also women from the group who have been successful in their fields. Perhaps you are leaving that for another column in a future issue. I hope so.

Faigie Coodin ( also a red diaper baby and a member of staff in camp at the same time as you were a camper)

Response from Mike Boone - May 4, 2007:

You know, you're absolutely right. Perhaps I subconsciously surmised that 1957 female grads would, like Mrs. Margolis, become wives and mothers (which is an accomplishment in itself.)

Mike Boone

Eva Kuper Rayman - May 4, 2007:

What an impressive cast of characters. The article raises the excitement for tomorrow even higher. Thanks again for all your hard work and that of the whole committee.

Eddy Shore (Shtull) - May 5, 2007

Sent: Sat 5/5/2007 5:46 AM
To: Boone, Michael (Montreal Gazette)
Subject: article

Great article. Thanks for including me.

Ed Shore

Reply to Eddy Shore from Mike Boone - May 5, 2007

Know what?

You were in my first list. Then Ed Shtull ended up on the cutting-room floor because I decided that trying to save my teeth wasn't as noble a calling as teaching at Oxford or running a disco.

So I owe you one.

Mike Boone

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