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My wife and I survived the war in Russia where our son Jerry
was born. After the war we emigrated to Israel.
Jerry trained as an aeronautical engineer. He became a prominent
mechanical engineer in the Israel Defense Forces. He went
to France for training to bring the first Mirage aircraft
to Israel. He worked for El Al after he left the Army. When
he came to Canada for a visit in 1967, he secured a job at
DeHavilland.
A year later, Jerry brought us to Canada.
Jerry was our only child and our pride and joy. We built
everything for him. We worked our whole lives for him. But
he died of heart failure in 1998 when he was 55 years old
and our whole world came crashing down. Our only child was
gone. It’s not supposed to be that way. He’s supposed
to take care of us. Yes, we have other family. But they’re
not our son. They’re not Jerry.
What could we do? How could we keep Jerry’s memory alive?
I agonized about it for months. Every day, I walked alone,
thinking. And then I had an idea. We would perpetuate his
name by helping other young people become successful mechanical
engineers just like Jerry had been.
Once I decided that I wanted to memorialize Jerry’s
life with a scholarship for the future, I decided to start
an endowment fund with $100,000.00. Each year, the income
from the Jerry Felzen Memorial Fund helps several students
from the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (CHAT) pursue
careers in mechanical engineering.
The future of the Jewish people relies on sound education
for our young people, and I want to help our young people
achieve that wisdom. The Jerry Felzen Memorial Fund helps
form bright minds.
The Jerry Felzen Memorial Scholarship is a challenge from
us to anyone who has suffered a tragedy similar to ours. We
can’t bring our son back, but we can use his memory as
an opportunity to help others, and help secure the future.
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