Sylvia Hotel - Sylvia Ablowitz

Sylvia Ablowitz

Sylvia Ablowitz spent her childhood in the West End. A strong swimmer, she sometimes practised her strokes in English Bay and once won a race between the bay and Kitsilano Beach. (Later, she would attract the attention of her future husband, Harry Ablowitz, by diving into False Creek from a boat carrying Jewish singles on a cruise.) After Sylvia completed a degree at the University of British Columbia her family moved to Los Angeles, where she worked for a labour union. She returned to Vancouver in 1928, and met Harry, marrying him within a year and settling in North Vancouver. Together, they founded a realty company.

Sylvia and her husband were very committed to Jewish seniors. Sylvia worked with Jewish community groups, and she and Harry helped set up a rest home and hospital, now in operation for nearly 60 years. In her 90s, Sylvia was still volunteering for a telephone home-check program to help out other senior Jews. She died on April 12, 2002 at the University of British Columbia Hospital.