Jakob Kembi, born in Parnu, Estonia, 1916, was forced to stop his education early and earn a living from the sea as a fisherman. He was very successful in his endeavours, but because Estonia was occupied and he was destined to be sent to Siberia, he voted with his feet and migrated to Sweden, where, once again, he became a successful fisherman. The waters around the east coast of Sweden were not safe for a recent émigré. He then took his family and moved to Canada in 1949. Fishing in Halifax was not productive so he took a train to Vancouver in 1951 to get in on the rich salmon harvest. Discovering that one had to be a Canadian citizen to obtain a fishing license, to survive, he worked at Burrard Shipyards during the day and built toolboxes for Woodward Department Store at night. Eventually managing to obtain a piece of property on Vancouver's North Shore, Jakob built a house, sold it, then from the proceeds bought more property, built more houses, and became a home builder. These single family houses became multistoried concrete apartments and then hotels. He built and now operates Days Hotel at Surrey Centre (formerly Surrey Inn) and, in 1999, at the age of 83, still goes to work every day and is actively involved in its management. In this view, Jakob Kembi supervises the building of one of his many concrete apartment buildings in the Greater Vancouver Area, circa 1965. [Photo, courtesy Alar Suurkask]