Maerov Family
In 1912 Sam Maerov emigrated from Sirage, Russia, to Canada with 16-year-old Rubin, the oldest of his five sons. They were to sail from England on the Titanic, but Ruben fell ill and they left on the next ship.
Sam’s wife Sophie Maerov and their remaining children, sons Louis, Alec, and Ben and Morris (the surviving set of three sets of twins), followed in 1913, and the family settled in Calgary in the Riverside district.
In 1923 Sam and Sophie Maerov bought property and opened a store on the northeast corner of 8th Avenue and 5th Street S.W. The Wave Confectionery, with its horseshoe counter and adjoining coffee shop booths, marked the western end of the 8th Avenue business district.
Sam soon sent funds back to Russia to his brother Zesil, asking that one of his daughters be sent to Canada. Twenty-year-old Clara Maerov (her immigration papers list her as Mayerow and Majerow) was chosen, and came to Calgary in 1923. She lived with Sam, Sophie and the Maerov boys until her marriage in 1931.
Ben and Morris, the youngest in the family, attended Langevin School and Cresent Heights High School and took violin lessons during that time. As they became more proficient, they began to play in dance bands in various towns around Calgary. Eventually they became members of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, playing at the Palace Theatre and the Jubilee Auditorium.
The family, meanwhile, had moved to a large house (which still stands) on 5th Avenue near 9th Street SW.
Rubin Maerov opened a confectionery store at 1008 -1st Street SW. Alec Maerov used the upstairs of the building to operate slot machines, while Louis Maerov became active in the cattle business in Alberta. Louis Maerov died in 1945.
In 1948 Ruben, Ben and Morris joined their parents’ business and soon developed the 8th Avenue site as the Wave Cafe, a familiar downtown landmark for over 40 years. Sophie Maerov passed away in 1951, her husband Samuel in 1959.
Rubin and Elsie (Riback) Maerov had one daughter, Phyllis Switzer. Rubin died in 1971. Louis and Bertha (Kline) Maerov had two sons, Sidney Maerov and Arnold Maerov.
Alec Maerov (1902-1971) and Fanny (Eisenstat) Maerov had no children. Ben and Bessie (Bider) had two children, Sheldon Maerov and Cynthia Maerov Prasow. Morris and Pat (Saltman) have two sons, Perry Maerov and Leslie Maerov.
Cousin Clara Maerov married Leo Lieberman in 1931; they had two sons, Raymond, of Edmonton, and Lucien, of Vancouver.
Ben Maerov passed away late in 1994 at the age of 84; his twin brother Morris remains in Calgary, and is the only surviving son of Calgary Jewish pioneers Sam and Sophie Maerov.
