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Larry Cohen - 7 Jun. 2007
- Name
- Larry Cohen
- Material Format
- moving images
- Interview Date
- 7 Jun. 2007
- Source
- Oral Histories
- Name
- Larry Cohen
- Number
- OH 302
- Interview Date
- 7 Jun. 2007
- Quantity
- 2 mini DV's, archival and reference copies
- Interviewer
- Sharon Gubbay Helfer
- Notes
- Ontario Small Jewish Communities Project.
- Availability of other formats: Also available as an M4V video file
- Use Restrictions
- Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
- Biography
- Larry Cohen lived in Buffalo for many years, where he met and married his wife,, Marlene. He joined the US Army during the Korean War and was stationed in New Jersey. After the army, he began working at his grandfather’s steel business and then in 1959 moved back to Niagara Falls. He held several positions with the synagogue in Niagara Falls including treasurer and president. He has three children—Bobby, Steven, and Michelle—and numerous grandchildren.
- Myer Salit, Larry Cohen's grandfather, was born in Brest Litovski, Poland. At the age of twenty-three, he booked passage to America on the SS Norge. On 28 June 1904, the ship struck a reef off the coast of Scotland and sank. Mr. Salit survived, along with approximately 160 other passengers, and made his way to New York and then St. Catharines, Ontario, where his brother-in-law, Harry Rubin, was a scrap metal dealer.
- In 1905, Mayer Salit moved to Niagara Falls, Ontario, and set up his own scrap metal business. He was the first Jewish resident of that community. Over time, the business prospered and grew. After the Second World War, his son-in-law, Irvin Feldman, joined the company followed by his grandson, Larry Cohen, in 1955. The company began to diversify, selling new and used steel products to local industry. Myer Salit passed away in 1958 and left the business in the hands of Irvin and Larry. By the 1960s, the company branched out and became a reinforcing steel (rebar) fabricator and changed its name to Salit Steel. During the 1980s, the family sold off the scrap metal division of the company. Mr. Feldman retired, and the responsibility for managing the firm was shared by Larry Cohen and Steven Cohen, Myer's great-grandson. The company has continued to expand and diversify and currently serves the needs of southern Ontario.
- Material Format
- moving images
- Geographic Access
- St. Catharines (Ont.)
- Niagara Falls (Ont.)
- Original Format
- Mini DV
- Copy Format
- DVD
- Source
- Oral Histories