Merchant, municipal councilor, police magistrate.
Born near Vilna, Lithuania in 1878, he moved to England in 1900 and came to Winnipeg in 1907 with wife Anne (c1885-1961) and their children. They settled at 1969 Main Street in West Kildonan and opened the municipality’s first grocery store.
The store immediately became a focal point of the community and Colish a well-respected citizen. He was known as a merchant who would offer, and forgive, credit to the impoverished and as acted as an interpreter and mediator in community disputes. He was elected to West Kildonan’s inaugural municipal council in 1914 and served until 1920. In 1922 he co-organized the West Kildonan Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association. He also served as Manitoba’s first Jewish police magistrate.
He died at the Sharon Home in Winnipeg on 10 April 1977 and was buried in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery. He is commemorated by Colish Drive in West Kildonan.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Colish Block (1969-1973 Main Street, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Colish Grocery (898 Westminster Avenue, Winnipeg)
Obituary [Anne Colish], Winnipeg Free Press, 24 April 1961, page 24.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 13 April 1977, page 62.
The Colish Block shows a little skin, West End Dumplings.
This page was prepared by Christian Cassidy.
Page revised: 2 January 2023
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