Never too late to dream
Printer, author, gallerist and auctioneer Alvin Abrams lived a life full of books, art and creativity
ALVIN ABRAMS
May 11, 1936 — Aug. 26, 2021
In his youth, Alvin Abram aspired to be a journalist, but life had other ideas. His father died when Alvin was 18, leading Alvin to forgo his plans to attend university. Instead, he apprenticed at a print shop to help support his family.
Printing became his life’s work. The North York-based company he later founded, AMA Typesetters — which in the 1980s became AMA Graphics Incorporated — was a success for six decades. But the lifelong Toronto resident always found time for writing, contributing to newsletters and small publications while running a business and raising a family.
One of his sayings was “It’s never too late to dream,” says his daughter Lisa Abram. And in his 60s, Alvin fulfilled a lifelong goal — he went back to school and became an award-winning author.
Born Alvin Abramovitz in Toronto to Herman Abramovitz of Moldova, and the former Annie Schwartz of Romania, he was a middle child with two brothers, Murray and Morton.
Life changed when Herman, a typesetter for a Jewish newspaper, died of a heart attack at 49. After graduating from Central Tech in Toronto, Alvin began working as a linotype operator for a friend of his father’s.
In 1960, he married Marilyn, whom he had met several years earlier at the YMHA and YWHA in downtown Toronto. They had three children: Lisa, Lori and Jason. Alvin worked hard. “He led by example and by doing,” says his daughter Lori Brown.
Located at Finch and Dufferin, AMA Graphics printed everything, including handbills, stationery, elections materials and annual reports. In the early ’70s, Dennis Rowe became a business partner and a lifelong friend. “Although we worked anywhere from 80 to 100 hours over seven days each week, we still saw each other socially,” Rowe says. “Even under the pressure of tight deadlines on everything we did, we always had a good laugh. Alvin’s ability to tell stories, see the positive side of things and his sense of humour were the biggest part of that fun.”
A new passion — and career — was born after Abram and his wife attended an art auction in the mid’70s, where he saw a lithograph by Romanian-born Israeli painter Sandu Liberman. Alvin purchased the artist’s estate from New York City, and together with a friend, opened a gallery called Art Ampersand, at Bathurst and Steeles. He bought only works he loved, by Canadians like Toller Cranston, Robert Bateman and Margaret Roseman; Israelis Yaacov Agam and Dubi Arie; and Americans Carol Dahl, Wayne Howell and Edna Hibel.
“He was not a designer or an artist,” Lori says, “but he was filled with creativity.” Alvin went to New York and New Jersey to meet with art wholesalers, publishers and artists to purchase, and later, commission art. “He loved working with artists,” says Marilyn, “and they loved his wit and personality,”
He also became an art auctioneer, conducting auctions from Calgary to Halifax. His physical stature — 6-foot-3, 260 pounds — matched his outgoing personality and made him a perfect fit for the role. “Alvin was the centre of attention when he entered a room,” Lisa says. “People were drawn to his teddybear presence like an eddy in a body of water.”
In the mid-’90s, Alvin returned to school to study creative writing at York University, the University of Toronto and Humber College. His book “The Unlikely Victims” was nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award by Crime Writers of Canada as one of the five best first novels of 2002. In 2005, his “An Eye for An Eye” won an International BookAdz Award for Best Novel.
Despite the success he experienced in his career, nothing mattered more to Alvin than his family. His 60-year marriage to Marilyn was a source of joy, as were his children and grandchildren Ally, Skyler and Ryan and step-grandchildren Samantha and Daniel. His passion for community activism led to his involvement in the Jewish National Fund, Boys Town Jerusalem, Leonard Mazel Ontario Lodge, Canadian Friends of the Israel Guide Dogs Centre for the Blind and Magen David Adom.
“They were deeply invested in the Jewish community,” says Lori of her parents. “Our father was not a religious person, but living a Jewish life was extremely important to him. He did not speak or understand Hebrew, but he would go to synagogue every Yom Kippur. He kept kosher, observed the holiday traditions, and wrote stories about Jewish people. He was a proud Jew.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, Alvin’s health began to decline — he had lived with inherited heart disease for many decades — which led to the closing of AMA Graphics in February 2020. He underwent a heart procedure and recovered but slowed down after suffering a fall.
While Alvin will be remembered as a loving family man, “ironically, he wasn’t overly expressive with us,” says Lori. “But he loved us all in his own way.” Returning home for her father’s funeral, she went through books he’d inscribed for her. “One stood out,” she says. “‘Remember there is more than one way to say I love you.’”
Alvin was the centre of attention when he walked into a room. DAUGHTER LISA ABRAM