Please note that the titles and descriptions that accompany each Trailblazers photograph are dated to the launch of the exhibit, March 2006, and will not be updated.
"I never stop feeling lucky. I am doing the things I love to do, with the people I love to do them with. Family, work, books, music and friends - all of the things I enjoy most in life. To me, that is perfect happiness."
Rosalie Silberman Abella '70
Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the first Jewish woman appointed to the court in Canada
Before she was five, and before she even understood what being a lawyer was, Rosie Abella knew she wanted to be one - just as her father had been in Europe. Ignoring those who told her "girls aren't lawyers," Rosie, who was born in a Displaced Persons' Camp in Germany, took comfort in the unconditional encouragement of her parents, holocaust survivors who told her to work hard, be herself and follow her own dreams. In 1976, pregnant with her second son, Rosie became the youngest judge in Canadian history. She has achieved great distinction nationally and internationally as a noted family court judge, law professor, litigator, author and lecturer. After chairing a Royal Commission, Labour Board and Law Reform Commission, she was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1992 and the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004. Today, this warm and charismatic powerhouse draws her greatest joy from the people closest to her - Irving, her husband of almost 40 years, and their two sons, Jacob ('98) and Zachary, both lawyers.
See more of the Trailblazers Exhibit
