Obituary of Sidney Herman
Sidney F. Herman
1917-2019
(R.C.A.F., 1941-1944)
Sidney Herman passed away peacefully in Regina, Sask. at the age of 101 on January 27, 2019. He was predeceased by loving wife of 74 years, Sandra in 2017. His passing is deeply felt by his sons Lawrence (Beatrice), Randall and Brian (Marianne); and his grandsons Alexander (Anamaria), Nicholas (Sarah) and Peter.
Sidney was born in the north end of Winnipeg and grew up in that city. He attended St. Paul’s College for two years from 1934-36, hoping to enter medical school, until the ravages of the depression deprived him of the means to continue. He and his brothers and sisters moved to Saskatchewan in 1936, where prospects seemed brighter. For a time, Sidney and his two brothers, Max (Bucky) and Al, lived and worked in Wadena, eventually moving to Regina in the late 1930s where they formed Herman Brothers Ltd., a company that specialized in mobile units for commercial, construction, residential and recreational use.
Sidney Herman enlisted in the RCAF in 1941 and completed his pilot’s training on twin-engine Ansons and Bollingbrokes in various airfields across western Canada, receiving his wings before being posted overseas. He served in RCAF Bomber Command, stationed in the north of England, from 1942 to 1943 and returned to service in Canada in 1944. He always remained a proud RCAF veteran and was honoured to receive the Bomber Command bar to his Second World War service medal in 2014.
Sidney met Sandra while in flight training in the Toronto area in 1942; they married in Toronto on New Year’s Eve, 1943. At the end of the war, Sidney and Sandra made their home in Regina where he resumed business with his two brothers, remaining at the helm of the company until his 80th year.
Sidney Herman was a devoted citizen of Regina, a city he loved and never wanted to leave. Herman Crescent in the city’s northwest was named in honour of Sidney and his brother, Max. For many years he and Sandra and the family summered at their cottage at Regina Beach. He was a long-standing and active member of the Regina business community from 1944 until he sold his business interests in 1997 and reluctantly retired. During that entire period, he was an energetic fundraiser for the Regina YMCA, including its summer camp, maintaining continual membership in that organization from 1946 to today. For as long as the family can remember, he went for his daily swim at the Y, a practice he continued until well into his 90s.
Sidney was a prominent member of the Regina chapters of the Masons and the Shriners and a strong and loyal member of the Jewish community and of the Beth Jacob Synagogue located in the Pearl and Max B. Herman Centre that had been endowed by his late brother.
Funeral Service will be held at the Beth Jacob Synagogue, 4715 McTavish Street, on Wednesday, January 30, 2019, at 12:00 p.m.
