Fonds jhse-23 - Berkowitz family fonds

Norbert Berkowitz was born in Berlin, Germany in 1923, the only child of Paul Berkowitz (1896-1969) and Rachel Hadassah Wurm (1899-1973). His grandparents, Israel and Sima perished in the Holocaust in 1941. Norbert was part of the Kindertransport for England in 1939, and lived with a London family for two years while awaiting his mother's escape to England in May 1939. Norbert obtained his Honours BSc Degree in Chemistry in 1943 and his PhD in 1947 from the University of London. Between 1943-1945, he was a part-time British army officer. In 1952, he came to Edmonton to assume a post as Senior Research Chemist at the Alberta Research Council. In 1954, he married Sheila Lipsett, (born 1931), daughter of Joel Lipsett and Vera Bregman of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Sheila had her BSc (Lab. Tech.) from the University of Alberta, where she worked. They had three children, Jonathan, Brian Saul and Cheryl Anne. Norbert's work and publications, which included more than 150 papers in scientific journals and four textbooks, gained him wide international recognition and many honours, including the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and the Order of Canada in 1984. Norbert and Sheila Berkowitz were killed in a car accident in June 2001.