Dorothy Dworkin

Dorothy Dworkin (née Dorothy Goldstick; 1889 – August 13, 1976) was a prominent Jewish Canadian nurse, businesswoman and philanthropist. In 2009, she was made a Person of National Historic Significance. She was involved in planning Toronto’s first Jewish hospital where prospective Jewish doctors could work and study.

Dorothy Dworkin was born to Wolf and Sara Goldstick in Windau, in the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Latvia). She had six sisters and four brothers. In 1904, she immigrated with her family to Canada. In 1907, she chose to become a maternity nurse. She spent a year working under Dr. Kaufman and various of his colleagues until Dr. Kaufman suggested that she go to train at Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, where she would train as a midwife. Prior to leaving Toronto, she helped establish a free Jewish Dispensary located at Elizabeth Street near Agnes, which is now Dundas Street, with Ida Siegel and her brother Abe Lewis. She was the dispensary's first nurse. In 1909, she received a diploma from the Medical State Board of Ohio.

In 1910, Dworkin helped form a Women’s Auxiliary in Toronto with a group of missionaries, and became its first president. The auxiliary would eventually grow into an orphanage.

In 1911, she married Henry Dworkin, a Ukrainian businessman who dealt motor accessories and was the founder of the Toronto Labour Lyceum. In 1917, Henry opened a small variety store with his brother Edward named E&H. Dworkin Steamship and Bankers. The store eventually became a tobacco and shipping agency and was renamed Dworkin Travel. It was located at 525 Dundas Street West. Through the company the Dworkins enabled hundreds of Eastern European Jews to immigrate to Canada prior to World War II, specifically from Poland, Romania, and Latvia. After The Holocaust, they aided survivors in Canada and internationally.

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