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]