By any measure, Ben Sperer was a tour de force: Just a few weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday at a virtual birthday party on zoom, the noted storyteller and self-taught historian succumbed to a brief illness and passed away on April 26 in Montreal.
Born in 1921 in Istanbul, Sperer is known as an intellectual tour de force, speaking seven languages and living a fascinating life that spanned continents, centuries and a panoply of world events.
From translating in World War II for a British Foreign office meeting between King George, then-Princess Elizabeth and the Turkish brass, to delivering a 2-hour virtual lecture at McGillâs Community for Lifelong Learning at age 99, Sperer made a profound mark.