DIAMOND, JACK

DIAMOND, JACK (1909–2001), Canadian businessman, thoroughbred breeder, racetrack owner, philanthropist. Born in Lubience in Galicia, Poland, Diamond learned about animals, including butchering, on his father's farm. He immigrated to Vancouver in 1926, several years after his brother. In 1939 he acquired the Pacific Meat Company and transformed it into the largest independent meat packer in western Canada. During the war he first served as a lobbyist in Ottawa for small meat packers, then as an adviser to the Wartime Prices and Trade Board on meat pricing and supplies. In 1964 he sold Pacific Meat and he and his sons established West Coast Reduction, a rendering operation. Within two decades the firm dominated rendering in western Canada. Jack Diamond was also enthralled with thoroughbred racing. In 1938 he set up his own stables and started buying and successfully breeding horses. After the war, he owned and operated two Vancouver race tracks, and in 1977 was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Jack Diamond also worked for and contributed to a number of Jewish and non-Jewish causes. In the late 1940s he was instrumental in the building of a new synagogue for the Orthodox Schara Tzedeck, and also served as chair of the congregation's Cemetery Board for more than 40 years. He is credited with saving Vancouver's claim to the British Empire Games in 1954, was instrumental in the creation of the BC Heart Foundation, and served on the Board of Governors of Simon Fraser University (1967–73) and as chancellor (1975–78). Diamond and his family established the Diamond Foundation in 1984. The foundation supports, above all, local Jewish causes with an emphasis on education and has funded the Diamond Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics at the University of British Columbia, and has provided major support for a Jewish day school in the suburb of Richmond, and a Jewish high school in Vancouver. In 2005 the president of the Foundation was Jack's son Gordon and the executive director was his granddaughter Jill. Diamond's many honors include his 2000 appointment as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest honor that Canada bestows on a citizen. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Sirotnik, Running Tough: The Story of Vancouver's Jack Diamond (1988), published by the Diamond family. (Richard Menkis (2nd ed.) DIAMOND, JACK DIAMOND, JACK (1932– ), architect and teacher. Diamond was born and raised in South Africa. While he came from a long line of rabbis, he studied architecture. He earned a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Cape town, a masters in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University, and a masters in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to teach architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and work for Philadelphia-based Louis Kahn, one of the foremost architects of the mid-20th century. Diamond immigrated to Canada in 1964, where he inaugurated and directed the Master of Architecture program at the University of Toronto from 1964 to 1970. Diamond also held appointments at York University in Toronto and the University of Texas and taught at Harvard, Princeton, and the University of California at Berkeley. Diamond began practicing architecture in Toronto in 1965, and in 1975 he joined in forming the firm of Diamond and Schmitt Architects, which won more than 90 design awards, including six Governor General's Awards for Architecture. Award-winning Diamond projects, including many theaters and university buildings, are found in Canada, Europe, the United States, and Asia. Among Diamond's more notable architectural achievements are the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit, the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, the Canadian Embassy in Prague, the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto, and the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. Diamond's Israeli projects include the Jerusalem City Hall, the School of Computer Science and Engineering Building at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and the Israel Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. From 1986 to 1989 Diamond served as a commissioner for the Ontario Human Rights Commission and in 1996 he was appointed commissioner of the Greater Toronto Area Planning Task Force. Diamond is an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects and was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Gold Metal and appointed to the Order of Canada. (Harold Troper (2nd ed.) DIAMOND, JOHN, BARON DIAMOND, JOHN, BARON (1907–1978), British politician. The son of a cantor in Leeds, Diamond qualified as a chartered accountant and entered Parliament in 1945 as Labour member for Gloucester. From 1964 to 1970 he was chief secretary to the Treasury (a post specially concerned with the control of government expenditure) and won wide respect in the House of Commons for his mastery of detail in financial legislation and his familiarity with business problems. From 1968 until 1970 he sat in the cabinet, and, following the 1970 election, was made a life peer. He was treasurer of the Sadler's Wells Operatic Trust and was actively concerned with Jewish youth work. His brother ARTHUR SIGISMUND DIAMOND (1897–1978), a lawyer, held the senior legal post of Master of the Supreme Court and was an authority on primitive law. He was president of the Jewish Historical Society, chairman of Leo Baeck College, and president of the West London Synagogue. Their mother, HENRIETTA (née Beckermann; 1873–1957), was an active Zionist and one of the most active supporters   of the Zebulun Seafaring Society for the training of Jewish sailors in Palestine. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. Finestein, "Arthur Sigismund Diamond, 1897–1978," in: JHSET, 26 (1974–78), 111–12. (Vivian David Lipman)