Sam Shaffer - 18 Sep. 2007 | Ontario Jewish Archives

Use Restrictions: Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.

Biography: Sam Shaffer's grandfather, Abraham “Albert” Shaffer (1862–1935), first came to New Jersey from Austria with his wife, Rose (1868–1936), and their five children. The family then moved to Fort William in 1910, and Albert started the Western Scrap Iron and Metal Company as a horse-and-cart operation. Abraham's brother, Shmuel “Samuel” Shaffer, worked as a dentist in Fort William in the 1920s. Abraham later moved to Toronto while his son Joseph (1888–1951), stayed in Fort William to run the company. Albert's third son, Meyer, became a dentist like his uncle.; Joseph married Rebecca Bauchner (b. 1891) in March 1913, and they had three sons: Bernard (d. 2004), a lawyer and former president of the Ontario branch of the Canadian Bar Association; Cecil Shaffer (d. 1997), a dentist; and Samuel (b. 1925). Sam took over the family business from his father, expanding it into a large-scale demolition-and-recycling company in the 1950s and 1960s. He also established Coastal Steel Construction in 1968. At the time of the interview, he was working as a scrap metal broker under the name SJS Metal Traders Inc.; Sam Shaffer was a past president of B’nai Brith, as was his father, Joseph, before him. Both men were also active in the Masons. Sam Schaeffer married Nancy in 1957 (d. 2013), and they had two children, Martin and Jean, and two grandchildren. Sam passed away on 8 August 2011.

Sam Shaffer - 18 Sep. 2007