By Nancy Miller Chenier
Ottawa’s first Jewish mayor, Lorry Greenberg, grew up in Lowertown. He was the youngest of seven children of Roger and Rose Greenberg, who had fled the violence against Jews in Eastern Europe. The family survived by selling fruit door to door and eventually expanded to rags, bags and scrap metal. The turning point came in the 1940s when they founded the Sterilized Wiper business, turning rags into dish clothes and machinery wipes in their Clarence Street house .
Lorry, who attended York Street Public School, was apparently known by the nickname “Killer” and is immortalized in Brian Doyle’s book Angel Square as one of the youthful gang leaders roaming the neighbourhood. Later, as mayor, he was known for his responsive but straight-shooting style of bargaining.
The family moved several times in the community and Lorry acquired a strong affection for Lowertown. After he was elected mayor, in December 1974, he was a recognized advocate for the preservation of the sections that had survived urban renewal, a situation that he called “one of the worst fiascos the municipality has ever known.” He was on hand to turn the sod for Beauséjour, the City Living project that was part of the rebuilding of Lowertown east of King Edward.
Mayor Greenberg was a proponent of community-based planning and of heritage. He was on city council when the mayor’s advisory committee for heritage was established in 1972, and was vocal in his support for the 1975 Ontario Heritage Act. His heritage focus led to an innovative deal with a developer to save the heritage stone building at 183-185 Rideau Street, now the site of the Dollarama. He also pushed for a study of the ByWard Market area, seeing it as the most significant heritage area in Ottawa.
After a heart attack in 1977, he did not seek re-election in 1978. In the 1980s, he returned to Lowertown and operated an antique business at the corner of York and Sussex.