Common Folk Remember Honest Ed Mirvish
Posted July 11, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As they go by the store on Bloor and Bathurst Sts., the echo of the man who ran it still seems to run through the halls and streets that surround Honest Ed’s. As the news of the passing of Ed Mirvish continues to spread in Toronto, those who shopped at his landmark bargain house or worked for the icon seem lost in their own memories of the man and his business.
“The first place I went to visit 40 years ago when I came here was his store up along Bloor Street,” remembers a woman named Fran.
Honest Ed is also a part of a lot of Christmas memories. “Giving away the turkeys and that to the people, I thought that was really something,” marvels Gloria, another Mirvish fan.
For Scott Richardson, the loss is personal. “I worked for Mirvish Productions for the last seven years,” he relates. “So he was a very important figure … created one of the greatest theatre companies in North America, I think. So it’s an important loss and we’ll all miss him, I think.”
Merella Palermo knew Mirvish as more than just an icon – he was also her boss as she worked in his famous store. “I started in ’75, like I got stuck here,” she muses. “I liked it. Beautiful job. Nice to work for a nice boss.”
Aldo Chian toiled for Honest Ed in one of his restaurants, where ‘suits and ties’ were mandatory. “For almost 16 years I was talking with him, lunchtime. He was at the door with me welcoming the people and then I was sitting them down and I heard this morning that he passed away and you know, I’m very, very sorry. But he had a great life and he was a great man and he will be remembered forever.”
Marie Parase’s memories of Mirvish are personal for a very different reason. “It was maybe a couple of years ago I mentioned to him that lived across the street from his mother. He was very surprised to hear that. He’s a very friendly man.”
But maybe the most simple tribute about this often simple man comes from another woman, who summed him up in one brief sentence. “He was a good man,” she nods.
