Celebrating the Life of Harvey Glatt

Harvey Glatt (Photo by Graham Lindsey) Harvey Glatt was on the Advisory Council of PAL Ottawa for many years. He and his wife Louise were big supporters of PAL Ottawa. Losing him after all those years is a blow to PAL Ottawa but nevertheless the legacy of kindness he left us with, was wonderful and worth the telling. 

I (Sandy Mackay-Smith) met him many times before that as an entertainment lawyer working in the industry and later as President of Invicta Capital Canada, a TV/Film financier. Later, I would see him about once a year at a friend's Holiday party and sit in the corner and swap stories. Mine paled to his vast knowledge of the music industry not to mention his humor in the telling. When I joined PAL Ottawa, I relied on him frequently for advice, I was honoured to become a friend along with the many closer friends he already had at PAL Ottawa like Susannah Dalfen and Natalie Stern. 

When we started raising money for PAL Place, Harvey asked Peter Haworth, our Chair, and myself to come over to his home for breakfast with his wife Louise to meet an old friend of his who was interested in the arts and may become more interested in PAL Ottawa. That turned out to be the wonderful Shirley Greenberg who, as it turned out was a close friend of Jerry Gray, the Ottawa artist, who was one of the founders of PAL Ottawa. Shirley looked into PAL deeply as she always did with charities she dealt with. She came to our event "Don't Quit Your Day Job" at the Ottawa Gallery, a prelude to fund raising for PAL Place, which Victoria Steele organized so well. All of us got to know Shirley better there and subsequently as she joined in PAL's Annual Meetings with pointed questions. Apparently, she liked what she saw,  leading to a very major donation to PAL Place which became the foundation of our PAL Place fund raising. Without Harvey that would never had happened. We at PAL can not thank him enough for his warmth and generosity in bringing Shirley into our circle. 

Harvey was afflicted with health problems at various times throughout his later life, leaving him in a permanent stoop and difficulty with hearing.  Eventually he and Louise had to move into Amica in Westboro so he and then she could have more help. Very discouraging for both.

A particular sting for Louise, a master piano player and teacher, her beloved baby grand piano could not come with her.  I visited Harvey and Louise at Amica. One visit, an agitated Louise suddenly asked me if I would like to hear her play on the electronic piano Harvey had brought her to compensate. She played beautifully and I applauded. She stopped me and said thanks for indulging her but frankly the electronic piano did not measure up in sound and began chastising Harvey for buying it in the first place. Harvey stepped in with a soothing  comment  about her playing being just as good as it ever was; never-mind the piano. After fussing about it a bit more she dropped the subject jumped back into our conversation with a terrific story which I pass on to you. The great Pete Seeger used to stay at their house on the Hudson River near New York in the early 60's before Harvey and Louise came to Canada. Pete instead of traveling home further up the Hudson would flop down fully dressed in their guest room bed after a concert or rally and immediately fall asleep. He was too big for the bed so his feet would hang over the foot board. Louise's routinely removed his socks while he was sleeping and threw them into washing machine thus avoiding, as she politely said,  the rest of the guest's becoming aware of them! Whether the disappointing electric piano prompted the story of the socks I will never know but there was a twinkle in her eye when she told it. What a life those two must have led!

Harvey was like a shooting star you marvel at; leaving one with a warmth for having the privilege of seeing it. His instant humanity in all things will be missed by PAL and for that matter everyone who encountered him throughout his life. 

Sandy Mackay-Smith
PAL Place Campaign - Chair