Sam Sniderman, (June 15, 1920 – September 23, 2012) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

businessman best known as the founder of the Canadian

record shop A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record sho ...

chain

Sam the Record Man Sam the Record Man was a Canadian record store chain that, at one time, was Canada's largest music recording retailer. In 1982, its ads proclaimed that it had "140 locations, coast to coast". Its iconic flagship store was located at 259 Yonge S ...

. Sniderman was also a major promoter of

Canadian music The music of Canada reflects the diverse influences that have shaped the country. Indigenous Peoples, the Irish, British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has also subsequently been i ...

including involvement in pushing for the

Canadian content Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (inclu ...

(CANCON) broadcast regulations and creating the

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

Life and career

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Sniderman grew up in its Jewish enclave known as

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...

. He attended high school at

Harbord Collegiate Institute Harbord Collegiate Institute (HCI or Harbord) is a public secondary school located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school is located in the Palmerston-Little Italy-Annex neighbourhood, situated on the north side of Harbord Street, betw ...

and started selling records in his brother Sidney's store, Sniderman Radio Sales and Service, in 1936. In 1959 he opened his first store on Toronto's

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial Hi ...

, and then moved it to the iconic 347 Yonge Street flagship store location in 1961. In 1969, he started franchising the store. He retired in 2000 and turned over ownership of the business to his sons, Bobby and Jason, and Sid's daughters Lana and Arna. The flagship Toronto store that bore his name closed in 2007 and its distinctive façade was declared a heritage site by the city. Following the closure, Sniderman expressed his support for

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

's bid to expropriate the Yonge Street property if his children and nieces failed to negotiate a deal to sell the property to the university. In the end, Ryerson (now called Toronto Metropolitan University) reached a deal to purchase the property from the family.

Awards and honours

On October 20, 1976, he was invested into the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. He was appointed to the Order's third tier,

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

, for "found ngthe Recordings Archive Library at the University of Toronto, now the largest of its kind in Canada. For his constant support of Canadian talent and concern for the preservation of our cultural heritage". Sniderman was inducted into the

Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame The Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame honours Canadian country music artists, builders or broadcasters, living or deceased. The artifact collection includes extensive biographical information on the inductees. It is located in downtown Merritt, ...

in 1997. Sam Sniderman himself remained an active participant in the Canadian music industry until his death. Always a believer in the "more is more" philosophy, he established the Sniderman Sound Recording Archive at the University of Toronto's School of Music, ensuring that it is "as big as possible." Sniderman spoke at the 2006

East Coast Music Awards The East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada. Its mission is to develop, advance and celebrate East Coast Canadian mus ...

. In 1999, Sniderman received the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts, a companion award of the

Governor General's Performing Arts Awards A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

, for his tireless support of Canadian musicians. His son

Jason Sniderman Jason Sniderman is a Canadian musician and businessman. He was one of the chief executives of Sam the Record Man, He also played keyboards on a number of rock music albums, performed with the band Blue Peter, and later released several albums unde ...

is a musician and was also an executive with Sam the Record Man. Another son, Bobby Sniderman, went into business for himself as proprietor of The Senator restaurant.

References

External links

Multimedia

CBC Archives
in a radio interview Sam Sniderman (

Sam the record man Sam the Record Man was a Canadian record store chain that, at one time, was Canada's largest music recording retailer. In 1982, its ads proclaimed that it had "140 locations, coast to coast". Its iconic flagship store was located at 259 Yonge S ...

) talks about his support for Canadian content in 1971

Web

Sam Sniderman
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sniderman, Sam 1920 births 2012 deaths Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian Jews Canadian music industry executives Canadian retail chief executives Members of the Order of Canada Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners