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In Memoriam: Lawrence Bessner 

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Tributes to Professor Emeritus Lawrence Bessner, who taught at Loyola College and Concordia University, were held recently at Tel Aviv University in Israel and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal. He died on Dec. 14, 2007, aged 86.

A veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II, he attended McGill University and co-founded the accounting firm now known as Bessner Gallay Kreisman.

He joined the staff of Loyola College in 1951, the first Jewish professor at the Jesuit institution, where he taught accounting and tax, and participated in the negotiations to merge Loyola with Sir George Williams University.

Bessner was active in the Jewish community, served as a councillor in Hampstead, and was involved for many years with the Montreal Association for the Blind.

Seen in photo at the Montreal tribute with a portrait of Mr. Bessner are Rabbi Leigh Lerner, Steffi Halton and Lawrence Boyle, who paid tribute to him.