Samuel Steinberg, (December 25, 1905 – May 24, 1978) was a Hungarian-born Canadian businessman, investor and philanthropist. He was an immigrant to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

who transformed the grocery store founded by his mother, Steinberg's Supermarket, into one of the largest chains in the

Province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

. By the time of his death in 1978, Steinberg's was the largest supermarket chain in Quebec.

Life and career

When he was four years old, Steinberg's family immigrated to Canada and settled in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, where his mother opened a small

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

. In 1934, Steinberg opened his first self-service grocery supermarket in the city. A visionary, he transformed food retailing through mass merchandising, mechanization, and personnel management that included a bilingualism policy for all company employees. By the end of the 1950s, his stores were a dominant force throughout the Province of Quebec, and in 1959 expanded into the province of

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 C ...

with the acquisition of 38

Grand Union A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer instal ...

stores. Steinberg would drive around the city, size up an area very quickly, acquire a property, and build a store on the site. He later set up Ivanhoe Investments. Steinberg married his cousin Helen (née Roth) in 1929. The couple funded a number of

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

causes including The Pavilion of Judaism at

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

, the Helen & Sam Steinberg Foundation's Geriatric Day Hospital, the Family Career Scientist Award and the Sam Steinberg Award For Young Jewish Entrepreneur of the Year given by the Jewish Chamber of Commerce of Montreal. Steinberg was made an Officer of 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 cen ...

and inducted into the

Canadian Business Hall of Fame The Canadian Business Hall of Fame celebrates the outstanding achievements of Canada's most distinguished business leaders, past and present. Over 170 Order of the Business Hall of Fame Companions serve as inspiring examples for all young Canadians ...

for his contribution to the Canadian economy. He was the subject of a 1974

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

documentary, ''After Mr. Sam'', which explored the issue of his impending retirement and his replacement. Steinberg died from heart failure ailment on May 24, 1978 at the age of 72 after being taken to the hospital the same day. He was survived by three daughters: Marilyn (died 2022), Evelyn (died 1993) and Mitzi (died 2019). Steinberg's second-born daughter, Rita, died in 1970. Disagreement among the daughters led to the sale of the family business in 1989, and the Steinberg family name disappeared from the stores in 1992. Helen Steinberg died in 2007 at the age of 98, and she was buried next to her husband in Montreal's Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery in

Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the ...

Notes

External links

Samuel Steinberg
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 f ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinberg, Sam 1905 births 1978 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Businesspeople from Montreal Canadian financiers Canadian grocers Canadian investors Canadian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Canadian real estate businesspeople Canadian retail chief executives Austro-Hungarian emigrants to Canada Hungarian Jews Jewish Canadian philanthropists Officers of the Order of Canada 20th-century philanthropists

Life and career

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links