L. Frank Moore

Died 30 March 1997

Herb Bercovitz’s Tribute to Frank

Miriam and I have known the Moores for about thirty years, since our daughters went to school together, but when I first ran for municipal council about six years ago, that didn’t stop Frank from questioning me closely on how I intended to maintain the character of Westmount, before throwing his wholehearted support behind my campaign. That’s because Frank loved the city in which he lived, he loved his neighbours, he loved the tree that unfortunately had to be removed because with age, it had become a hazard, he loved humanity.

His dedication to humanism extended beyond his family, his street, his community. He actively supported the Council on Christians and Jews which was very important to him.

As municipal councillor for the district in which the Moores live, I received frequent calls from Frank, not on his own behalf but on behalf of his friends and neighbours. He wanted them to be as happy with Westmount as he himself was. Always gentle, never aggressive, it was always a delight to receive a telephone call from him. Frank always valued quality, beauty and above all, integrity. Surely, he believed that he had discovered the quality and beauty he sought in his adopted city, and his integrity, clear and uncompromising was evident in the forthright manner in which he insisted on the righting of wrongs, on things being done right. Frank had been aptly named, for frank he surely was.

When Miriam and I visited him recently at the Royal Victoria Hospital, he was asleep and his outward appearance had changed so, that we did not recognize him, but when he awoke, his smile, his sweetness, his gentility reminded us that this was the same Frank Moore that we had always known despite the terrible illness that ultimately claimed his life. Now Frank is dead and we grieve his passing. He died as he had always lived, with quiet courage and dignity. If we would keep his memory alive, we too, would care for all living creatures, vegetable, animal, human, for it is in them that his spirit lives on, for Frank was a part of each, as they were all part of him.

Frank’s passing brings to mind the familiar quotation from John Donne:

“No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”

As for you Connie, Cathy and Mark, it would be impossible for us to really know the trials you have faced in these past months, but trust that you may find some consolation in the fact that we your friends support you as always, and will continue to do so in the days and years ahead.
by Herbert Bercovitz