Nat Hurwich was the son of Russian immigrants. He grew up in downtown Toronto and attended Hebrew classes Monday-Thursday after public school and on Sunday at the Talmud Torah (Associated’s predecessor) during WWI.  “It was a long way to Simcoe Street from Markham and Robinson where my parents…had a grocery store, but there wasn’t another community Hebrew School at the time.”

Hurwich was an entrepreneur who eventually founded Mobile Automotive Products, a highly-successful company that he sold in 1969.

His grandfather, a scholar and shochet, ingrained in him a love of Judaism and Israel. “My grandfather taught me…the most important thing is to be a mensch — the most honourable behavior is to set an example for others….”  Hurwich was a leader and philanthropist to many Jewish and Israeli organizations, among them Associated Hebrew Schools.

Without any children of their own, he and his wife opted to help educate the children of Toronto’s Jewish Community by making arrangements to leave their estate to Associated.  The AHS administration was delighted to name the Finch Avenue building the Nathan O. and Roey Hurwich Education Centre in their honour in 1982. Explaining his involvement with AHS in a 2003 interview, Hurwich said that “without the Jewish schools, we have no future.”

When he died at age 98 in 2008, Hurwich was Associated’s oldest living alumnus.  AHS is grateful to have been the recipient of Mr. Hurwich’s incredible bequest.  Our community is so fortunate to stand on the shoulders of giants like Nat and other donors who made arrangements to leave their legacies to Associated.

*Information taken from a 1988 article in the CJN, as well as his obituary and CJN story from 2008.