By the time he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in 2007, Mischa Weisz had all he needed to face the fight of his life. A child of Holocaust survivors, he felt distant from his parents and had no idea of his own heritage until he was well into his teens - too late to adopt it as his own.
When Mischa and his first wife split, he battled for custody of their son and daughter, emerging as an unlikely but devoted single father living on unemployment insurance as he plotted his move into independent business. His work with computers and bank machines positioned him to take advantage when the Canadian government opened the Interac network to independent operators. Weisz grew his company into a powerhouse, amassing a fortune processing ATM withdrawals that Canadians make at gas stations, variety stores, casinos, and other locations.
On October 2, 2009, Mischa passed away at the age of 53. In this inspiring memoir he documents how it's possible to thrive even in the toughest conditions and demonstrates how he lived on his terms while battling cancer formore than two years.
close this panelMischa Weisz was born in Barrie, Ontario, and grew up in Hamilton. In the 1990s he set up TNS Smart Network, a key provider of access to the Internet network for thirteen thousand independently operated bank machines across Canada. In 2009 he sold the compoany.
Wade Hemsworth is an award-winning reporter with the Hamilton Spectator and is the author of two previosu works of non-fiction, Killing Time and Both My Legs
.
close this panel