Max Silverman (August 25, 1900 – October 5, 1966) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

manager and politician, who was the mayor of

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

in 1966.Tom Keenan
"Sudbury's Max Silverman Silver Fox of Hockey Dies"
''

Sault Star ''The Sault Star'' is a Canadian broadsheet daily newspaper based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It is owned by Postmedia. The print edition of Star is published on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with regular news coverage also provided throu ...

'', October 6, 1966.

Background

He was the son of Myer Silverman and Sara Riva Benjamin,

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

immigrants who had briefly lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where Max Silverman was born, before moving to Sudbury around the turn of the century.Gary Peck, "Silvermans Linked to Sudbury’s Rich Jewish History". ''Republic of Mining'', April 4, 2008. Myer and his brothers Aaron and Hiram opened Silverman's, the city's first

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

,Vicki Gilhula
"Memory Lane: Share your memories of the ‘Greatest Store in Northern Ontario’"
'' Sudbury.com'', October 30, 2020. although their partnership soon dissolved due to business disagreements, and the store continued under Aaron's sole ownership while Myer opened his own competing discount store across the street. Saul Silverman, Aaron's son and Max's cousin, would also become an important figure in the city, serving on the boards of both Sudbury General Hospital and

Laurentian University Laurentian University (), officially Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Laurentian offers a variety of undergr ...

Career

Sports

He began his longtime association with the

Sudbury Wolves The Sudbury Wolves are an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) ice hockey team based in Greater Sudbury, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Sudbury has had various hockey teams competing at the Junior ice hockey, junior and senior ice hockey levels of the game k ...

in his youth, working various entry-level positions for the team until becoming the goal umpire at age 16. By the early 1930s, he was the team's president and general manager.Wallace, C. M.; & Thomson, Ashley (Eds.) (1993). ''Sudbury: Rail Town to Regional Capital'' (3rd ed.)

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. . Silverman and coach Samuel Rothschild led the team to victory in the

1932 Memorial Cup The 1932 Memorial Cup final was the 14th junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Sudbury Cub Wolves of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association in Eastern Canad ...

, the 1935 Richardson Cup and the

1938 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1938 Ice Hockey World Championships were held between February 11 and February 20, 1938, at Štvanice Stadium in Prague, Czechoslovakia. It marked the 30th anniversary of the IIHF, and a special celebration was held with famous hockey player ...

.Lives Lived: Sports & Recreation
. ''South Side Story'', January 2005. The team also competed in the

1949 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1949 Ice Hockey World Championships were the 16th World Championships and 27th European Hockey Championships was held from February 12 to 20, 1949, in Stockholm, Sweden. The event was the first World Championships during the presidency of Can ...

, but lost to the Czechoslovakian team. Silverman later took over the coaching role himself until retiring from that position in 1955, although he retained the title of honorary president. He sold the team to a local business consortium for $17,500 in 1956, and subsequently served a short stint as coach of the

Indianapolis Chiefs The Indianapolis Chiefs were a minor league professional ice hockey team that played in the International Hockey League from 1955 to 1962. The Chiefs were based in Indianapolis, Indiana and played at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum. In seven seaso ...

in the International Hockey League, before returning to Sudbury to launch a new team, the Sudbury Combines, in the

Northern Ontario Hockey Association The Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA) is an ice hockey governing body for minor, junior and senior ice hockey. The NOHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada. The major league run by the NOHA is the Northe ...

's senior division. The Combines played an exhibition game against the Czechoslovakian national team in 1960, in what was widely billed as a "rematch" of the 1949 Wolves vs. Czechoslovakia series, but lost 9-4. Despite not yet being formally admitted to the NOHA, they were permitted to enter that year's NOHA playoffs, but were defeated in the regional semi-finals by the Rouyn-Noranda Alouettes and did not advance in the series. The fledgling team effectively collapsed by the fall, however, and never played again after 1960.

Politics

Silverman unsuccessfully ran for the city's Board of Control in 1960, but was successful in 1962. He served as the city's deputy mayor from 1962 to 1964, and defeated Joe Fabbro for the mayoralty in the 1965 Sudbury municipal election. He was the city's first Jewish mayor. While serving as mayor, he sat on a committee of mayors appointed to study the feasibility of

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

separating from Ontario to form a new province, alongside G. W. Maybury of

Kapuskasing Kapuskasing ( ) is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Hearst, Ontario, Hearst and northwest of Timmins, Ontario, Timmins. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917. ...

, Ernest Reid of Fort William, Leo Del Villano of

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 at the 2021 Canadian census and an estimated population of ...

Merle Dickerson Merle Dickerson (1911/1912 – June 9, 1984) was a Canadian politician, who served as a longtime mayor of North Bay, Ontario."Colourful mayor of North Bay was last old-style politician". ''The Globe and Mail'', June 11, 1984. A "colourful" popul ...

of North Bay and Leo Foucault of Espanola. He died on October 5, 1966, after less than a year in office. His death resulted in the elevation of deputy mayor Grace Hartman to the mayoralty, making her the city's first female mayor."Mayor of Sudbury, Max Silverman Dies"
''

Waterloo Region Record The ''Waterloo Region Record'' (formerly ''The Record'') is the daily newspaper covering Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario, Water ...

'', October 6, 1966.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silverman, Max 1900 births 1966 deaths Canada men's national ice hockey team coaches Mayors of Sudbury, Ontario Jewish Canadian sportspeople Businesspeople from Greater Sudbury Canadian sports businesspeople Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Greater Sudbury Jewish mayors of places in Canada 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario