Close X
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
ADVT 
National

Ex-Montrealer among dead in Florida condo collapse

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 07 Jul, 2021 04:57 PM
  • Ex-Montrealer among dead in Florida condo collapse

The first Canadian victim identified in the collapse of a South Florida condominium is a former Montrealer.

Ingrid "Itty" Ainsworth, 66, died in the collapse in late June along with her husband Tzvi, 68.

Their identities were made public earlier this week by Miami-Dade police after their bodies were recovered on Monday, 11 days after the building collapsed.

Hundreds showed up to pay their respects at Chabad-Lubovitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn on Tuesday before they were laid to rest.

Itty Ainsworth, née Fellig, was from Montreal and met Tzvi, who was from Australia.

The Chabad press office said in a statement the couple briefly lived in Canada after their marriage.

"The Fellig family is one of the influential Chabad families in Montreal," the press office wrote. "After their marriage, Itty (her Jewish name and how she was universally known) and Tzvi lived in Montreal, before decamping for Australia."

The Associated Press reported the couple lived in Australia for nearly two decades before returning to South Florida to be near their children. In recent years, her family largely relocated to Florida, but there was still extended family in Montreal.

The couple, who had seven children, was celebrating the birth of two grandchildren. Their son in South Africa recently had a baby and their son in Florida had a baby just days ago, their niece Chana Harrel told The Associated Press on Saturday.

A daughter lived just blocks away, she said.

"Every person she encountered, ever in her life, became her friend. Everyone was treated as equals,'' Chana Wasserman wrote in a Mother's Day blog post to her mother, Itty, last year. "The guy at the laundromat, the guy working at the fruit market … ''

Ingrid struggled with chronic pain but didn't let that darken her mood. She tried to focus on the positive, a sunny day, a long car ride that would seem tedious to many she reframed as a chance to talk and catch up, her daughter wrote.

"I know I will never be able to match my mother's pure enthusiasm for life but it's inspiring to watch,'' Wasserman wrote.

Itty's mother, a Holocaust survivor living in Miami Beach, is battling cancer and doesn't know about the tragedy.

"They didn't tell her. She's not well,'' Harrel said. "It's absolutely horrific.''

On Wednesday, emergency workers gave up any hope of finding survivors in the rubble, shifting their efforts to recovering remains after authorities concluded that there was "no chance of life.''

No one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the 12-story Champlain Towers South building fell on June 24.

Global Affairs Canada has said three different Canadian families have been affected by the tragedy and three Canadians remain unaccounted for.

A spokesman said Tuesday that Canadian consular officials based in Miami are providing direct support to the family of the deceased and to the families of those who are still missing.

MORE National ARTICLES

Couple pleads guilty to breaking Yukon COVID rules

Couple pleads guilty to breaking Yukon COVID rules
A husband and wife who flew to a remote Yukon community to receive early doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in January have pleaded guilty in a territorial court.    

Couple pleads guilty to breaking Yukon COVID rules

PPE, pandemic-related trash on shorelines: report

PPE, pandemic-related trash on shorelines: report
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup 2020 annual report says litter from single-use food and drink packaging nearly doubled last year as restaurant takeout soared during lockdowns and physical distancing kept people outside and apart.

PPE, pandemic-related trash on shorelines: report

Vancouver police fears warm weather, easing restrictions could cause spike in jewelry scams

Vancouver police fears  warm weather, easing restrictions could cause spike in jewelry scams
Vancouver Police are reminding east-side residents to be wary of jewelry scammers, after a Collingwood man was bilked out of thousands of dollars yesterday.    

Vancouver police fears warm weather, easing restrictions could cause spike in jewelry scams

MPs not seeking re-election say their farewells

MPs not seeking re-election say their farewells
Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, the New Democrat MP for Nunavut, used the opportunity to blast Canada as a country built on the oppression of Indigenous People and whose history is "stained with blood."

MPs not seeking re-election say their farewells

Trudeau allowed to check out of quarantine hotel

Trudeau allowed to check out of quarantine hotel
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being allowed to check out from his quarantine hotel roughly 12 hours after checking in. Trudeau's office says he received his negative COVID-19 test Wednesday morning and can now leave the three-star Ottawa lodging.

Trudeau allowed to check out of quarantine hotel

Green leader survives planned ouster

Green leader survives planned ouster
Green Leader Annamie Paul has survived another day of party strife after a move to push her out shifted course, leaving her with a tenuous grip on power ahead of a likely federal election this year.

Green leader survives planned ouster