Manuel Batshaw’s name became part of the Quebec lexicon when four child-protection groups – Ville Marie Social Services Centre, Shawbridge Youth Centres, Youth Horizons and Mount St. Patrick Youth Centre – were merged to become the Batshaw Youth and Family Centres.
Manny Batshaw's grandchildren called him "Mr. Neat," not for a tendency to keep things tidy so much as a talent and drive to fix things that were broken. The nickname could well have applied to the whole of his adult life for he spent it finding sensible, sensitive solutions to problems, be it as a social worker, as the creative force behind organizations such as Montreal's Jewish Family Services or as the head of a provincial commission that helped revolutionize Quebec's youth-protection system.
Mr. Batshaw, who died on July 18 at the age of 101, was not the type to toss around a football in the backyard or partake in other classic father-son activities, according to his son. There was never enough time.
"Sometimes it felt as if the entire community was my sibling," said Dr. Mark Batshaw, a pediatrician and the physician-in-chief at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, in Washington, D.C. "I think that's true of most great men because they are so committed to what they do. I gave him a 'C' as a father and an 'A' as a mentor because as I grew up watching him and his value system, he influenced and inspired me to strive, solve problems and do my best."
Mark's son, Michael, a psychotherapist in New York, said he carries two pictures in his mind of his grandfather. In the more recent one, a frail man sits in a chair, rapt and patient, making his grandson feel like he is the only person in the room.
"The other one is from when I was younger and he'd come visit us," Michael continued. "He was constantly moving, constantly doing, checking on my schoolwork, going to the store to pick up something up, fixing something or finding things to fix. I don't have a single memory of him lying down and having a nap, or of him being quiet."
His grandfather, who was bald and dapper, had strong shoulders from swimming and the courtly habit of carrying a properly folded handkerchief in the breast pocket of his suit jacket, which he would proffer as needed. He had a need to help people in distress, even when he got older and was living in a Jewish eldercare home. During a recent visit to Montreal, for example, Mark recalled watching in amazement and admiration as his father espied a woman in her 90s in the institution's dining room who was attempting without success to put on her sweater.
"He was using a walker at the time but somehow he managed to speed up to a sort of ungainly sprint, the walker bump-bump-bumping quickly in front of him, until he stood triumphantly behind her holding up the sweater as she put her arms in the sleeves," Mark said. "That was Father through and through: determined, gallant and a gentleman at every opportunity."
Manuel Gilman Batshaw was born in Montreal on April 17, 1915, the youngest of Tevel and Golda Batshaw's four children. His parents, Russian immigrants who had come to Canada in 1903 to escape the pogroms, worked hard to make ends meet: His father was a carpenter for the Canadian National Railway who got up each morning at 4 o'clock to get goods to stock the grocery market his wife ran out of the family's living room, then caught the streetcar to his own job.
It was a hard life and the parents expected each of their children – three sons and one daughter – to give back by excelling in school, going on to university and carving out successful careers for themselves. But for young Manny, this was a struggle: He had what would later be known as dyslexia and he failed Grade 2 when he couldn't make sense of what his teacher was telling him.
His parents didn't understand and leaned heavily upon him. How could he fail? Didn't they work hard to give their children opportunities? Why wouldn't he do better? For them, it was a question of will rather than a bona fide medical problem; after all, his older siblings were academic stars, especially brilliant Harry, who would go on to become the first Jew appointed to a high court in Canada.
In a way, the experience helped young Manny learn to handle failure and move on without becoming mired in it.
"Harry encouraged him, as did Frances, his sister," Mark said. "He grew up knowing he had to work harder to achieve great things and he never really worried about failing because he had failed so often as a kid."
By the time he reached high school, Manny was able to cope with his dyslexia, and he began to excel at his studies. Although his grades weren't good enough to get into McGill University the first time he applied, he transferred there from Queen's University, graduating with a degree in social work in 1937. His first job was as a caseworker at Montreal's Baron de Hirsch Institute, where he met his first wife, Rachel Levitt, also a social worker. They would remain married for 49 years, until her death in 1990.
At the start of the Second World War, he enlisted in the army but was exempted from combat because of a bad toe that prevented him from standing for long periods of time. Instead, he served as the officer responsible for social services within the army in Quebec, and reached the rank of captain. His job was to evaluate whether men were emotionally ready to be sent to the front lines.
After the war, Mr. Batshaw moved with his wife and son six times in 16 years, with each stop gaining an ever-higher profile in North America's Jewish community. There was Philadelphia, where he was a settlement worker, and Atlanta, where he consulted and helped to develop new Jewish community centres in the region. There was Hamilton, Ont., where he worked with the Young Men's Hebrew Association and Newark, N.J., where the family lived as he served as the vice-president of the National Jewish Welfare Board in New York.
Throughout, he dreamed of moving back to his hometown. He yearned for the kind of job where he had the power to put in place ideas honed by years of practice and observation, in service of an increasingly diverse community he knew and loved. When Montreal's Allied Jewish Community Services (now Federation CJA) came looking for an executive vice-president in 1968, Mr. Batshaw jumped at the chance. He returned with his family and created an army of volunteers and staff to do community-building work in accordance with the Jewish concept tikkun olam (which translates as "heal the world").
He lived by that maxim. In the 1970s, he gathered a group of volunteers to raise money and find homes for Vietnamese boat people who had landed in Canada.
In 1975, after reading a news story about abuse in Quebec's youth homes, he called the provincial minister to offer his help and was appointed the head of a commission that produced 11 volumes of testimony and recommendations. His work caused the government to do an about-face when it came to youth services, emphasizing among other things the use of foster homes over institutions, the involvement of the community in creating more humane environments and better-trained child-care workers.
The changes were enshrined in the new Youth Protection Act, which the National Assembly passed in 1979. Thirteen years later, Mr. Batshaw's name became part of the Quebec lexicon when four English-language child-protection groups – Ville Marie Social Services Centre, Shawbridge Youth Centres, Youth Horizons and Mount St. Patrick Youth Centre – were merged to become the Batshaw Youth and Family Centres.
"Manny valued children and youths and believed in them," Batshaw official Assunta Gallo said in a statement. "He acted as their voice, even in the face of adversity. This man had the courage and strength to ensure children's needs were met, rights were respected and that child-welfare work included both parents and families."
Mr. Batshaw spent the last of his working years as an adviser to Montreal businessman Charles Bronfman, helping shape a philosophy of philanthropy and community sharing. In 1995, he was inducted into the National Order of Quebec; three years later, McGill University gave him an honorary doctorate.
In 2003, he was named to the Order of Canada.
True to form, Mr. Batshaw, who liked to have the last word, penned his own eulogy in 2002, even as he enjoyed life with his second wife, Ruth Schleien, a long-time volunteer with Federation CJA.
In it, he said his funeral was a celebration of a life lived well beyond threescore and ten, surrounded by people he loved.
"The personal contribution [that] was most satisfying to me was when individuals said, 'You've been a model for me' or 'You had an important influence on my life,'" he continued. "I close by wishing you all good health, long life and a peaceful world. I sum up my life by saying that I hope I was gentle, kind, humble, purposeful and productive. It's been a good ride!"
Mr. Batshaw, who died of complications related to prostate cancer, was predeceased by Ms. Schleien, who died in 2006. He leaves his son, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
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