"We fill the globe with character....

I must thank one of my very faithful correspondents, 63er Mithoo Malani, from Florida for sending me this information.

Hello Jacob:

At Cathedral he was known as Isaac Marshall right from KG, and was also in Savage House like you were, I think.

Not much into sports as far as I can remember. Fairly studious, usually ranked 6th or so in his Class "A" of 30+ kids.

Very likeable old chap, did act in some plays, lived in the Colaba area, was in the Scout Troop with me.

I met Isaac at our 40th year Class Reunion in November 2003. I had not seen or heard from him since December 1963 when we graduated from Cathedral.

I did hear from my other Bombay Jewish friends from time to time that Isaac was in Canada, but only was in touch with him again at the 40th Reunion .... what a grand time we all had !!!

Isaac, is this all true .... let Jacob know more about you ....

Please keep in touch .....

Mithoo

I was glad to hear from David shortly thereafter!

In the meantime, I did my own research and found that we have a great representative of our Cathedral model in David, a fellow Savage!

Mithoo sent me a couple of photographs.


This photograph of the school Scout Troop
was probably taken in 1960 as 59ers Viney Sethi and Ashok Ruia
were Scouts till 1959.

This photograph above is of the 59-60 Scout Troop with Mr. Patel, our Physics teacher and Mr. Joshi, our Hindi teacher, certainly raised many happy memories in my mind.

I was good at Physics and pretty rotten at Hindi!

Mithoo is sitting in the front row, fourth from right, in front of Mr. Green, who was the assistant PT teacher. David is in the top row, right in the centre. The person sitting next to Mr. Patel, is the late 59er, Jaswant Ghatge.


1963 School Prefects

I wonder if someone would clarify whether it is David who sits on the extreme left in the School Prefects photograph for 1963. Savage House Captain or Vice Captain?

Why are we talking about David?

He has been the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Government Services in Canada since 2004.

David Marshall, Deputy Minister

As Deputy Minister of Public Works and Government Services, David Marshall provides the overall vision and direction for the department.

An outstanding leader and innovator, he brings more than 30 years of domestic and international experience in information technology, financial services and the federal government.

Prior to re-joining the Government of Canada, Mr. Marshall spent several years in the private sector. He was the Vice-Chairman, Retail Products, Technology and Operation for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) from 1999 to 2002. He was responsible for the bank's extensive credit card, mortgage, payments and insurance businesses. While at CIBC, Mr. Marshall was instrumental in developing electronic banking products and for ensuring that CIBC was a leading technology innovator.

From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Marshall was Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Bankers Trust New York Corporation — a leading New York-based Investment Bank. He was responsible for global operations and technology for the bank. He also served as managing director of Bankers Trust Company, the corporation's principal banking subsidiary, and as a director of BT Technology Partners, the bank's venture capital subsidiary. In 1998 Mr. Marshall was named CIO of the Year by Future Banker magazine.

Mr. Marshall has also held previous senior positions with CIBC, Unitel Communications Inc. — the operating arm of AT&T in Canada, and the Toronto Dominion Bank.

A certified general accountant, Mr. Marshall also served in the public service from 1977 to 1993. He has been Canada's Assistant Auditor General; Assistant Deputy Minister, Information Technology, Revenue Canada; and Assistant Deputy Minister, Information Technology, Employment and Immigration Canada.

In the Canadian Bureaucratic hierarchy, 63er David reports directly to the Minister and Receiver General for Canada, Scott Brison, P. C.

Pretty impressive career. Must be the year 1959 he spent as my Savage House protégé!

Thank you David for carry our Cathedral flag so high in Canada.

Having pondered over the photographs for many hours, I now recall the young David as he was in school. I must thank Mithoo for reviving that part of my brain.

David was known as David Marshall while at school and also through his professional career. However to close friends and his family he has always been known as Isaac.

I was also moved when David responded to my email with this:

I think its great that you put so much effort into keeping us all plugged in! I think all of us who went to Cathedral and are now in the “Diaspora” so to speak are very touched to be able to connect home from time to time.

Thanks again to Mithoo and David for the feedback. It is all of you and your exploits and achievements that keep this Seventh Heaven blog riding high, NOT ME!