It was 1970, and Neumann’s first day as a junior part-time sales associate at what was then Gordon Jewellers at Fairview Mall.
“People were setting up in the store and I knocked on the door and a man came out and said, ‘Who are you?’ I said, ‘I work here. Who are you?’ and he said, ‘I own the place.’ And that was Harold.”
Weinstein, the inaugural inductee of the Canadian Jewellery Hall of Fame, passed away on Jan. 8 of health complications. He was 82 years old.
“He was very much larger than life,” Neumann told Jewellery Business, recalling her first impression of the man who gave her away on her wedding day and served as her mentor over the next 40 years. “He wasn’t a tall man, but when he entered a room, he filled it. He was kind, amazingly thoughtful to his staff, knowledgeable, and had a sense of people that was simply extraordinary.”
Born into the trade, Weinstein swept floors at his father’s Sudbury, Ont., store after school and on weekends, learning at the watchmaker’s bench and developing his lifelong love of jewellery.
Following his father’s death, Weinstein worked as a sales representative for JL Sabbath in Montreal and Siffari in Toronto. Over the next several years, he and his wife, Claire, built Gordon Jewellers, a four-store chain known for its use of a single colour scheme in its décor.
In 1975, he became vice-president of Peoples Jewellers, but left a year later after suffering a heart attack. The following year, he founded Harold Weinstein Ltd., an independent gemmological laboratory accredited and designated by the American Gem Society (AGS), of which he was one of the first Canadian members.
Weinstein’s dedication to the trade went beyond the doors to his business—he helped found Jewellers Vigilance Canada (JVC) in 1987, the organization promoting ethical practices and loss prevention within the industry.
“Through his time as a JVC director and beyond in his retirement, Harold was a champion for ethics in our industry,” said JVC executive director Phyllis Richard. “He was well-loved and well-respected. He will be missed.”
In 1990, Weinstein became president of the Canadian Jewellers Association (CJA). Seven years later, he retired from the company that bears his name as its appraiser emeritus and continued to serve as an advisor.
An avid fisherman, he devoted the next years to raising tens of thousands of dollars for L’Arche Daybreak, a community for adults with intellectual disabilities, of which his daughter, Ellen, is a resident. His other daughter, Susan, is a writer and commentator.
In 2007, Weinstein received the CJA Chairman Award in absentia at what was then the Jewellery World Expo in Toronto. Neumann accepted the award on his behalf.
“He was very much an innovator,” she said. “He didn’t follow the lead of anyone. He made his own way. He was a really important part of my life and I feel so honoured to have been a part of his.”
Weinstein is survived by his daughters and his wife. He was buried on what would have been their 54th wedding anniversary.
Linda, so sorry to hear about your father.maybe God bless.