Raphael, Bert, 1933-2016 : Born in Toronto, Bert Raphael Q.C. was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1960. He is a prominent trial lawyer specializing in civil litigation. He was called to the Bar of Alberta in 1988. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1975 and was grandfathered as a Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from McMaster University and was twice honoured by the Law Society of Upper Canada. In 1992, he was awarded the Law Society Medal for Significant Contribution to the Profession and in 1997, was awarded the Law Society Award of Merit for Meritorious Community Service. He has been Canadian president of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists since 1980.
In addition to his legal career, Mr. Raphael has had a long and distinguished career of service to the Canadian Jewish community. Long active in the Soviet Jewry campaign to secure freedom to emigrate, he served as chairman of Canadian Lawyers and Jurists for Soviet Jewry (1972-1992). He founded and has serves as president of the Jewish Civil Rights Educational Foundation (1979-). He has been chairman, director or officer of numerous other organizations, including the Canadian Lawyers and Jurists for World Jewry, the Nazi War Crimes Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the State of Israel Bonds Legal Division, the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada, the Canadian Bar Association, the Bert Raphael Medico-Legal Society of Toronto, the North York Branson Hospital and the Reena Foundation for which he is Honorary Legal Counsel.
Bert Raphael has also been a chairman, panelist, and lecturer at various international symposiums, including Advocates' Society conferences in Israel, Ireland, Kenya, San Francisco, New York, Quebec, Italy, Hungary and China. He was a panelist at the 1987 Seventh international Congress of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Jerusalem, and a lecturer at the 1989 conference of the International Foundation for Survival and Development of Humanity, Moscow.
Bert married his wife Marilyn in 1955. Together they had three children, five grandchildren and six honorary grandchildren.
Bert Raphael passed away on November 15, 2016.