Its membership counted 450 families, some of whom were fourth-generation members. Congregation Beth Israel celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2007. Several notable members of the Jewish support movement were responsible for the building of banks and clinics in East Vancouver, most notable being Duffy Holeksa who was quoted as saying “I’ll build these banks with every penny I have!” New Westminster Jewish merchants have been part of New Westminster since its founding in 1859 when firms like Meyer, Reinhards & Co. and Messrs. Levi and Boas arrived to supply prospectors for the Cariboo Gold Rush. There were a few Jewish families and businesses in the area by the late 1920s. The Schara Tzedeck congregation of Vancouver consecrated its cemetery here in 1929, despite neighbourhood opposition. One prominent family was that of Louis Zack, who started a drycleaning business in 1929 and became business and community leaders. In 1941 Sam and Paul Heller acquired and modernised the Pacific Pine Co. Ltd. sawmill. The Royal City Hadassah chapter was founded in 1947, and was active through at least 2001. The chapter was the focus of increased Jewish social activities. After years of parent car-pooling to Vancouver Jewish schools and hiring private tutors, the New Westminster branch of Vancouver's Talmud Torah school was established in 1949. Most families still tended to participate in Vancouver synagogues, partly due to family ties. Louis Leask was a prominent doctor and school trustee from 1952 to 1971. Muni Evers, a pharmacist, served six years as alderman and fourteen years as mayor of New Westminster. By 1960, the Jewish community directory listed 21 families in New Westminster. However, during the 1970s the local Jewish community was shrinking and spreading to cheaper housing eastwards. History by local areas West Vancouver and North Vancouver Due to an early lack of bridges across Burrard Inlet, and the distance from Jewish institutions, the Jewish population of West Vancouver and North Vancouver was small until after the Second World War. One of the notable Jewish businessmen who settled there was Samuel Gintzburger. He served on the first West Vancouver municipal council in 1912, founded the Vancouver Hebrew Free Loan Association, was a long-time president of Vancouver's Temple Emanu-El, and mentored Jewish children from the Juvenile Court. Another North Shore businessman was Louis Brier, who willed his Gold Rush fortune to fund a non-sectarian seniors' home, orphanage, and hospital. This became the Louis Brier