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Syd Halter - 19 Sep. 2007
- Name
- Syd Halter
- Material Format
- moving images
- Interview Date
- 19 Sep. 2007
- Source
- Oral Histories
- Name
- Syd Halter
- Number
- OH 309
- Subject
- Thunder Bay
- synagogue
- Rabbi Katz
- Rabbi Polanski
- Rabbi Siegal
- Young Judea
- Schaffer family
- Interview Date
- 19 Sep. 2007
- Quantity
- 2 mini DVs ; 2 reference DVDs ; 2 archival copy DVDs
- Interviewer
- Sharon Gubbay Helfer
- Notes
- Part of Ontario Small Jewish Communities Project
- Use Restrictions
- Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
- Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
- Biography
- G. Sydney "Syd" Halter (1925–2012) was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, the child of Max and Freda Halter. His father was from England, and his mother was from Russia. Both came to Canada in the early 1900s. Syd attended the University of Manitoba, where he graduated in 1946 with his bachelor of science-engineering. After obtaining his FEIC, P. Eng. Syd joined C. D. Howe Company Limited as a design engineer. In 1976, he became the president and general manager, senior vice-president of Howe International Ltd. (the overseas arm covering over fifty countries overseas) and director of the Howe Group of Companies.
- Syd's main fields of expertise involved dock-and-harbor installations and bulk material handling, on which he lectured and wrote numerous published papers. He designed and supervised the construction of step-down electrical substations for a variety of industrial and institutional clients. Syd was involved in the design, additions, electrical power works, and automation at various facilities in Canada and overseas. He had project responsibility for major grain terminal and harbour works across Canada and in Acajutla, El Salvador. He was honoured twice by the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario with the Sons of Martha Medal for outstanding service and also with the Citizenship Award; he received the Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada in 1987 in recognition of his excellence in engineering and for services to his profession and to society.
- Both before and after his retirement in 1989, Syd was involved in a large number of volunteer activities, including: chairman of the Board of Governors for fifteen years and a member of the Executive Committee of Lakehead University; president of the Board of Governors of McKellar General Hospital for nine years; director Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Communications Committee; director Ontario Chamber of Commerce; member Related Land and Water Management Committee of Lakehead Regional Conservation Authority; programme chairman and international director of Grain Elevator and Processing Society; past secretary-treasurer, past chairman and past branch councillor of Lakehead Branch Engineering Institute of Canada; president of Consulting Engineers of Ontario for six years and a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC, and the State of Wisconsin; member of numerous committees of APEO, including chairman of the fees Committee; chairman since inception of CEO/POC Committee regarding new Engineers and Architects Act; member of the Rotary Club; president Fraternal Service Club - B'Nai Brith Lodge 696; vice-president and director of Shaarey Shomayim.
- He was married to Dorothea Halter (née Cross) of Thunder Bay for sixty-one years. They had three daughters and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
- Material Format
- moving images
- Geographic Access
- Thunder Bay (Ont.)
- Original Format
- Mini DV
- Copy Format
- DVD
- Source
- Oral Histories