In Memory of Lee Zaslofsky: An Obituary and Loving Remembrance

Lee Zaslofsky died suddenly and unexpectedly in his apartment in Toronto on August 20, 2024. He died from natural causes. Lee was seventy-nine years old, and just a few days shy of his eightieth birthday. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Lee had been a resident of Toronto since 1970 and a citizen of Canada since 1975.

Lee was the son of Leo and Stella, deceased. He is survived by his younger sister, Linda; Linda’s husband, Peter; Linda’s son, Lee’s nephew, Michael; Michael’s wife, Victoria; and their son, Lee’s great-nephew, Calum.

Lee was a graduate of Syosset High School in Syosset, NY, and the State University of NY at Stony Brook, NY. He attended the University of Toronto.

As an activist and advocate, Lee served in many Toronto, but also Canada wide, activities. His work included voluntary, community and government service. He was an active member of the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP). In time, Lee was most widely known for his work as Coordinator at the War Resisters Support Campaign (Pan-Canada).

Lee was descended from a family with a strong history of contribution, which continues with other family members today. He was especially involved in movements and issues relating to peace and social justice. In this, Lee shared with his cousin, Dr. David Greer, who was a founding Director of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Group, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.

Lee’s activism was greatly influenced by his opposition to the war in Vietnam from 1968, and his subsequent drafting into the United States Army in 1969. These factors precipitated his emigration to Toronto, Canada in 1970 as a war resister, and later, his involvement with the War Resisters’ Support Campaign.

The centerpiece of Lee’s life was the moment in 1970 when he left his home and family in the United States to start a new life in Canada. That moment was fraught and frightening for both Lee and his family as Lee was defying laws pertaining to the United States Army and could be arrested if caught reentering the United States.

With his decision made and his move to Canada, Lee found his mature activist voice and purpose. He also found a community of other, like-minded activists and friends with whom to work and thrive. While his family felt that they had lost their son and brother, they were very proud of him and took comfort from his reports of new, meaningful connections and work in Toronto.

As our family thinks of Lee and his life, we are filled with many memories. For me, Lee’s sister, the following is just a small selection of these, collected over so many years. I express them just as they come to my mind:

Lee was an altar boy until his mid-teens. He was serious in his Catholic faith and service in those days. He remained interested in Catholic theology throughout his life.

Like many others in our family, Lee was an avid reader, with eclectic tastes. His interests ranged from politics and history (mostly European and The Americas) to religion and classic detective fiction (including in the original French and Italian, especially).

Lee loved Wagner (The Ring Cycle), Italian Opera and Beethoven. As a teenager, he would listen to his 78 rpm records and pretend to conduct the music. As an older man, he fell in love with K-Pop and BTS. Lee did not have a habit of listening to popular or rock music, otherwise.

Lee attended a BTS concert a few years ago and laughed as he recalled to me that he was probably the oldest person in the audience.

In 1962–63, Lee took a gap year between high school and university to tour Europe and to improve his foreign language skills. He had raised the funds for the trip by working as a bus boy at a local country club. During that year, and while touring in the UK, Lee sent me The Beatles first album, commenting that “Everyone thinks these guys might be the next big thing!” It was the coolest gift ever.

Lee had a wonderful facility for languages. His first spoken language was Spanish, his second, was English. There is a long story there! He learned Russian by slowly and carefully reading War and Peace in the original Cyrillic text. He was fluent in Spanish, Italian and German, and towards the end of his life, was learning Vietnamese.

When I was eight years old and sick with a nasty case of measles, Lee cheered me up with an impromptu puppet show using one of my socks in a solo act. Some two decades later, Lee played the same sort of puppet theater with my four-year-old son, his nephew Michael, this time with a Sesame Street puppet. I still adore puppets and marionettes, a fact that Lee loved.

Lee watched Sid Caesar and Caesar’s “Show of Shows” on television in the 1950’s with laugh tears running down his face. Lee’s quirky sense of humor was, in part, inspired by that.

While living in Toronto, Lee had a dog named “Barfy”. They lived together for about a decade until Barfy’s death.

Lee’s first car (purchased, I believe in 1966), was a barely road-worthy 1956 Chevy Bel Air without a back seat. When he could, he would take my friends and me (we were much younger than he) for rides. He would laugh as we screamed happily and rolled around in the back, on the floor.

When Lee left our family home for Canada in deep winter 1970, he was twenty-five years old, and I was nineteen. As our parents drove Lee to our local train station, on Long Island, I ran upstairs to our bathroom and vomited. Our mother went into a deep and lingering depression.

My brother’s journey to Toronto followed the route of the War Resisters “Underground Railroad” to a safe house in Buffalo, NY, followed by a trip across the Canadian border in a station wagon driven by a sympathetic homemaker/ resister, her two children quietly sitting in the back seat. Lee was carrying US$500, a US passport, some clothing and all of our best wishes and hopes. We had engaged a lawyer to help, should word get to us that he had been arrested which, so very fortunately, he was not.

Lee’s first job in Toronto was as a taxicab driver. His most illustrious fare was Rudolph Nureyev, whom my brother described as a terrible snob!

As a war resister, Lee was unable to return to the United States for many years. He did not participate in Jimmy Carter’s General Amnesty in 1977 because he did not believe that he had done anything wrong. Instead, he later returned for a general discharge from the United States Army as the Army cleared its books of AWOL resisters. As a result of Lee’s enforced absence, he missed my marriage, our father’s significant second heart attack, and the birth of my child, Lee’s nephew, in 1977. I visited Lee as did our parents. We did our best.

Lee was gay, out, and a passionate activist and advocate for the rights and healthcare of the LGBTQ community.

My brother developed from being a Liberal Democrat to a Socialist while in Canada. He was a strong supporter of Robert Kennedy in his campaign for United States President in 1968. Lee admired Kennedy’s evolved campaign positions, which melded peace and social justice, and was devastated when Kennedy was assassinated.

My brother was indifferent to sports but was a great city walker and enjoyed traveling. He adored Vietnam and its people and, if he could, would have left Canada to live in Vietnam, permanently. His visits to that country were his greatest joy in his later years.

In closing, our family reflects that Lee leaves a lasting influence through his many contributions to friendship, peace and social justice. Our family is enormously proud of that and so very grateful to have had him as one of us, part of us, as he will remain, always.

“Full lasting is the song, though he, / the singer, passes.”
George Meredith; “The Thrush in February,” (1888)

Our family will hold a private Scattering Ceremony at the Toronto Necropolis in November. We invite Lee’s many friends, co-workers, comrades and colleagues to remember joyfully Lee and his history of achievements and all the qualities about him that they recall fondly. We ask you to do so with renewed commitment to the causes and principles that you hold dear. We believe that Lee would have been very proud to receive that tribute.