Born July 24, 1914, Mirvish took over his father’s grocery store at 15 and eventually came to amass an enterprise that includes Mirvish Village, the Princess of Wales Theatre, the Royal Alexandra Theatre and the Old Vic Theatre in London. —Entrepreneur and theatre impresario Mirvish dead at 92 (Canada.com)

Honest Ed’s was a Toronto landmark, well worth the walk from the University of Toronto. His store was tackier than the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, but he invested hugely in the local theatre district, and had a self-deprecating “regular guy” image.