Elexis (Conn) Schloss, a vibrant entrepreneur and philanthropist who supported a big selection of causes, each in and past Edmonton, died in Victoria on Oct. 31. She was 78.
Her enterprising and altruistic efforts have been acknowledged in 2013 when she was made a member of the Order of Canada, “for contributions as a visionary and committed volunteer in support of health care, cultural, social service and educational causes locally and provincially.”
Schloss spearheaded initiatives for the humanities, sports activities, immigrant ladies, the homeless, First Nations peoples and African youngsters residing with HIV, amongst different charitable endeavours. One of many achievements highlighted at her induction to the Order of Canada was her position within the creation of Compassion Home, a housing and help program in northern Alberta for ladies present process therapy for breast most cancers.
I’m extremely sorry to listen to concerning the passing of Elexis Schloss – a philanthropist and group advocate who gave a lot to assist so many in our metropolis and all over the world.
I first met Elexis throughout my first time period as an MLA after I spoke at a citizenship ceremony she was main… pic.twitter.com/NJDVb6Bez5
— David Shepherd (@DShepYEG) November 2, 2024
On a private stage, she was recognized for attempting to make everybody she met really feel higher about themselves.
“She was not only my world, she was a world to everybody,” her husband Eric mentioned in an interview with The CJN. “She would talk to people on the street, people she did not know, and compliment them on their clothes or their hair.”
Born in Drugs Hat, Alta., the place her grandmother helped discovered town’s first synagogue—which occupied the positioning of a former Ford Mannequin T dealership—Schloss’s household moved to Calgary when she was 8. Her skilled life started as a draughtsman and designer earlier than learning structure at McGill College. In 1967, she married Eric, a dermatologist and fellow Order of Canada member additionally acknowledged for his humanitarian and philanthropic endeavours.
The couple settled in Edmonton, the place she grew to become the top of design at Maclab Enterprises for 18 years. Afterwards, Schloss launched many ventures of her personal, together with Truffles Darling, a chocolate firm which grew to become the official present of the federal government of Canada. A narrative has it that the Queen Mom fell in love along with her truffles and introduced a big order again for her daughter Elizabeth.
Schloss additionally began an organization that made designer angora sweaters which have been bought at Saks, Neiman Marcus and Holt Renfrew, and have been worn by Princess Diana and actress Victoria Principal on the tv program Dallas.
Energetic within the artwork world, she had her watercolours exhibited at galleries in Edmonton and Calgary, grow to be a professional gilder (the artwork of making use of gold to jewellery) after studying from the Queen’s private decorator in London, and studied shoe and jewellery making on the London Institute of Vogue and Design.
“Elexis also had beautiful handwriting,” her husband mentioned. “People would ask her to write wedding or bar mitzvah invitations, and she would always oblige.”
Her dedication to group service was unquestionable—holding positions on over 25 boards and committees. She co-chaired the Caring and Offering Empowerment (CAPE) clinic for inner-city residents and held board positions with Pilgrim’s Hospice, Canadians for a Civil Society and the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights.
“She was on so many boards because she always wanted to help,” Eric Schloss mentioned.
As a citizenship courtroom decide, Schloss granted Canadian citizenship to over 9,000 folks. She would hug each new Canadian and say, “Welcome to Canada, your home.”
QB Justice Daybreak Pentelechuk shocked her daughter Mackenzie Clayton’s fiancé, Vahram Aznavourian, when she took half in a citizenship ceremony with Presiding Official Elexis Schloss Thursday because the Lebanon born Armenian grew to become one among 84 model new Canadians. #ABQB #albertacourts pic.twitter.com/deLrlBFHgi
— Court docket of King’s Bench of Alberta (@KingsBench_AB) October 19, 2018
On a world stage, schloss contributed to aid efforts in Haiti, and volunteered along with her husband in Rwanda and Ethiopia the place she taught artistic artwork to youngsters with leprosy, tuberculosis and HIV.
She was additionally recognized for her quiet acts of kindness, from volunteering within the kitchen forward of a Passover seder to knitting a whole bunch of toques, mittens, and scarves for homeless shelters in Victoria, the place she had a trip residence.
On Fridays, she purchased present playing cards from Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s to distribute amongst Edmonton’s homeless. To make it simpler for the recipients, Schloss would inform folks it was her birthday. One Friday, somebody witnessing the presentation of the playing cards from a distance yelled, “She’s a liar! Her birthday was last week!”
Schloss’s contributions inside Edmonton’s Jewish group have been additionally quite a few, serving as co-chair of the Buddies of the Hebrew College, and designing and planning the inside and exterior of the brand new constructing for Beth Israel Synagogue, a contemporary Orthodox synagogue within the metropolis, within the early 2000s. She and her husband have been the 1995 honourees on the Edmonton Negev Dinner.
As a member of the board of Edmonton’s Artwork Gallery of Alberta (AGA), she was pivotal within the establishment’s fundraising efforts for a brand new constructing.
Schloss was additionally a donor for the upcoming exhibition on the AGA, Right here to Inform: Faces of Holocaust Survivors, which runs from Nov. 28 to Feb. 9, 2025. Began in Calgary, the exhibition is comprised of 65 portraits of survivors, held up within the arms of their descendants. Every {photograph} is accompanied by a quick private account of the survivor’s Holocaust expertise and life after the conflict.
Animals, too, weren’t exempt from being on the receiving finish of Schloss’s goodwill. She was recognized for her love of birds and canines. Except for her Yorkies, she saved a rescued German shepherd which she present in a muddy ditch surrounded by bulrushes close to her trip residence in Pigeon Lake, Alta. She named the canine Moses.
Schloss can also be being remembered for her sense of humour.
“When she was made a member of the Order of Canada, everyone was seated in alphabetic order and Elexis was next to David Sobey,” Eric Schloss recalled. “Elexis said to him, ‘I shop at your stores.’ To which he replied, ‘Oh, you’re the one.’”
Apart from her induction to the Order of Canada, Schloss was the recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the World Woman of Imaginative and prescient Award, the Rotary Integrity Award and an honorary degree from MacEwan College.
Along with her husband, Schloss is survived by her daughter, Robin; son, Jay J; grandchildren, and her brother, Sidney.
