FALL/WINTER 2018
LEGACIES Some Things Never Change F our men fly to Florida in the dead of winter. Is there anything special about that? Normally, no, but when they haven’t been in the same room together since 1951, it’s a story worth hearing. The last time Malcolm Thomson, Myron Tapper, Martin Brotman, and Charles Faiman were together, they were crossing the room to pick up certificates as part of the first graduating class of Talmud Torah, one of the founding schools of Gray Academy. Now, the connection they built so long ago in the North End called them back together. “It seemed time for a reunion,” says Thomson, 80, a rabbi-turned-Wall Street executive who lives in Grace Kelly’s former apartment on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. “After 67 years, I knew we’d pick up our friendship where we left off.”
In January, the men—all of whom now live in the United States—arrived in Delray Beach for a four-day rendezvous, sharing stories of their early days in Manitoba and highlights from their lives since. Faiman and Brotman became top physicians and Tapper an internationally recognized aerospace physicist. Thomson points to the community that Talmud Torah created for their enduring friendship. At the reunion, he couldn’t help but marvel at how the Class of ’51 still had such a strong bond. “How many people can get together for the first time in 67 years and still have an intimate connection?” he asks. “Talmud Torah did that then, and Gray Academy does that now.” •
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