Memorable Manitobans: Benjamin “Ben” Jacob (1891-1975)

Businessman.

Born in Russia in 1891, he came to Canada in 1910 and, three years later, he partnered with John Henry Crowley in establishing the garment manufacturing firm of Jacob-Crowley Manufacturing Company in Winnipeg. He played a key role in introducing unionism in the city’s needle trade. During the Second World War, he was Chairman of the War Time Prices and Trade Commission for the garment industry in western Canada.

On 13 May 1913, he married Dora Brown (c1895-1974) at Winnipeg and they had four children: Wilhelmina Berta “Minnie” Jacob (1914-1964, wife of Edward Wesley Newton Hesp), Helen Jacob (1915-1991, wife of Alan Abraham Klass), Isaac Nathan Jacob (1917-1967), and Ted Jacob (1927-2003). He was a founding member of the Jewish Welfare Fund and an original member of the building committees of the YMHA and Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. He was the founding President of the Glendale Golf and Country Club (1947).

He died at Winnipeg on 28 October 1975 and was buried in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery.

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Keewayden Building / Crowley Building (138 Portage Avenue East, Winnipeg)

Sources:

Marriage registration [Ben Jacob, Dora Brown], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Birth registrations [Berta Jacob, Helen Jacob, Isaac Nathan Jacob], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

1921 Canada census, Ancestry.

Marriage registration [Wilhelmina Berta Jacob, Edward Wesley Newton Hesp], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Obituary [Dora Jacob], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 March 1974, page 16.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 29 October 1975, page 54.

Obituary [Helen Jacob Klass], Winnipeg Free Press, 26 March 1991, page 46.

Obituary [Ted Jacob], Winnipeg Free Press, 15 November 2003.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 3 February 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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