A BUSINESS ICON
Prominent Glace Bay businessman passes on.
Elliot Marshall was known as a great friend and businessman but also as a wonderful father.
Marshall, who was known to everyone as Ellie, died in Ottawa, Ont. on Jan. 24 at age 89.
“He was a marvellous father,” said Susan Marshall, speaking on behalf of herself and her sister Cheryl Cohen, who both reside in Ottawa.
“He was attentive, he was caring, he always wanted us to be happy.”
Marshall and her sister grew up in the family’s clothing store in Glace Bay and they remember their father holding court in the back of the store.
“People use to say Daddy was the mayor of Glace Bay without the responsibilities that went with it,” said Marshall. “He was a people person.”
Marshall said their parents closed the clothing store in 1998 and moved to Ottawa to be close to their daughters. Their mother Helen died eight years ago.
“He really cared about people and when you had a conversation with him you knew that he cared about what you were saying because the questions he asked you showed he had really listened to what you were telling him,” she said.
“We were very lucky to have him for a dad, a lot of people loved him and he was ours.”
Retired Glace Bay businessman Raymond Goldman, who resides in both Glace Bay and Ottawa, described Marshall as, “a close friend and mentor.”
“He was kind and very well liked,” Goldman said. “He was my mentor, my coach in English rugby.”
Goldman met Marshall at the Glace Bay synagogue, Congregation Sons of Israel, when Marshall was its president.
Goldman said Marshall was a longtime respected businessman in the community.
“They were in business back in the ’20s more than 90 years ago. It was in his family’s name 75 years or so.”
Before leaving Glace Bay, Marshall wrote a book entitled “Once Upon a Story.”
“It’s a good read, about his family life, his friends and neighbours,” he said adding, “Ellie was a real good man.” Marshall was involved with many organizations including the United Israel Appeal and made significant contributions to the Glace Bay Downtown Development Corp. and the Glace Bay Historical Society.
Cecil Saccary, chair of the Glace Bay Business Association, said he knew Ellie Marshall most of his life.
“He always presented himself well in public, was a friend to everyone.”
Saccary learned the tailoring trade form Johnny Rose who was the main tailor for many clothing stores in Glace Bay. When Rose retired, Saccary took over the tailor shop and as a result got to know Marshall.
He saw first-hand how Marshall did a lot for a lot of people.
“The Marshall family were good people who did a lot for the community, a lot of things unknown to most people,” he said.
“Ellie was a businessman first and foremost, but he was a good man, a straight shooter, always fair to me.”
Marshall’s was located on Commercial Street where Just Cuts is today and at one time Marshall’s wife Helen owned the store next door and specialized in wedding dresses.
Wayne Debison of Glace Bay remembers frequenting Marshall’s clothing store as a young man and recalls Marshall as a kind man who treated everyone well.
“You’d go in there, he’d always be smiling and helpful,” he said. “You could find anything you’d need in that store, that’s the place everyone went.”
Debison said he’d often hear how good Marshall was to people.
“If you couldn’t pay for things you could just put it on a tab and then when you’d get the money you could pay for it,” he added.
“The Marshall family were good people who did a lot for the community, a lot of things unknown to most people. Ellie was a businessman first and foremost, but he was a good man, a straight shooter, always fair to me.” Cecil Saccary, chair, Glace Bay Business Association