David John Reiff was born on 12 April 1951 in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, the son of Frederick Abraham “Fred” Reiff and Rebecca “Rena” Reiff (née Abrahamson). His life would eventually span three countries and two continents—from his childhood in Rhodesia, through his professional and family life in South Africa, to his later years in Toronto, Canada.
David spent his early childhood in Bulawayo, where he attended Kumalo Primary School. In 1963, he was selected as a school prefect, an early indication of the leadership qualities that would become increasingly apparent during his professional career.
His secondary education was firstly at Milton Senior School, then onto Falcon College, which was a boarding school in a town called outside Bulawayo. Across his childhood and teenage years, David participated in cricket, tennis, athletics and rugby, often taking on positions of responsibility and leadership. He completed his education after matriculating at Sixth Form College.
As his uncle, Abe Abrahamson acquired a large optical supply business, General Optical Company in South Africa, David moved to Cape Town, South Africa in January 1971 and joined the company initially as an apprentice optical technician. He stayed with his Uncle Alec and Auntie Sybil in Sea Point for several years.
On 18 May 1975, David married Gail Sagor and went on to have two sons, Gavin and Craig.
In 1977, he was appointed overall Prescription Laboratory Manager. Further specialist training took him to Germany and Sweden, exposing him to developments in optical manufacturing technology and production methods. It was a significant achievement and demonstrated David's ability to combine technical knowledge with practical production management.
Family life unfolded alongside the increasingly demanding responsibilities of David's optical career. By the beginning of the 1980s, he was simultaneously a husband and father, company director, optical specialist and, subsequently, educator.
David's rise through General Optical culminated in 1980, when, at only 29 years of age, he became the company's Production Director. His responsibilities extended well beyond the day-to-day operation of a laboratory. He became involved in production planning, staff management, technical development, equipment selection and the implementation of new manufacturing methods.
His professional credentials were formally recognized when he became registered as an Optical Dispenser/Ophthalmic Dispensing Optician on 9 March 1978. By this stage, David had developed considerable expertise in ophthalmic lens production and optical laboratory management.
One of the most significant and perhaps less widely known aspects of David's career was his contribution to optical education in South Africa. He became involved with the Cape Technikon during the development of what its surviving correspondence describes as South Africa's first recognized three-year, full-time National Diploma course in Optical Dispensing. David contributed considerable time and professional expertise to establishing the program. Beginning in 1985, he served as a part-time lecturer, teaching subjects relating to ophthalmic lenses, prescriptions and manufacturing techniques. He also participated in the institution's advisory work.
This part of David's career demonstrates that his influence extended beyond his own workplace. He was helping to pass his accumulated technical knowledge to a new generation entering the optical profession.
The political situation in South Africa at that time became dire as the 'Apartheid' state began to crumble. For the future of his children, David and Gail made the hard decision to leave South Africa for a new life in Toronto, Canada.
In Canada he became associated with Essilor Canada Ltd. in Toronto, working in production management. His specialist knowledge continued to develop internationally, and in 1987 he undertook further technical training with Essilor International Research & Development in France, including work relating to surfacing methodology and vacuum-coating techniques.
David's professional interests broadened beyond optical manufacturing. As an avid photographer, he went into a partnership owning a franchise, Japan Camera in Toronto, including a store at Bayview Avenue in North York. As most of the revenue of the business was processing film to prints, he sold it in 2009, with the rapid rise in popularity of digital photography.
He subsequently applied his years of management and retail experience through DJR Retail Business Consulting, serving as its principal and providing practical business advice to smaller retailers and business owners. It was a natural progression for someone who had spent decades dealing with production, personnel, technology, management and retail operations.
In 2010, he invested in another partnership at Metalex Doors, which he managed the administrative side of the business for 10 years before he decided to eventually retire in 2020. He spent his final years devoted to his family, children and grandchildren.
Health Issues:
Besides all the challenges that David dealt with in his remarkable life, he fought serious health challenges.
In 1996, David's life changed dramatically when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. They successfully removed it but sadly he was left with a disability. Yet, he never let it obstruct him from carrying on a normal life, demonstrating the resilience that had characterized so much of his life.
Then, in 2020, the world was confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
David contracted COVID-19 and sadly died from the disease in Toronto on June 1st. 2021, aged 70 years.
His lifetime had encompassed extraordinary changes. He had grown up in the Bulawayo of the 1950s and 1960s, attended school in Rhodesia, built his early career and family life in South Africa, trained professionally in Europe and ultimately established his home in Canada.
Remembering David:
David John Reiff's life cannot be defined by any single chapter.
He was the energetic Bulawayo schoolboy who loved sport; the cricket and tennis captain; the prefect; and the Falcon College sportsman.
He became the young optical technician who rapidly rose through the ranks of his profession, eventually becoming a production director while still in his twenties.
He was an innovator who travelled internationally to learn new manufacturing techniques and brought that knowledge back to the laboratories he managed.
He was also an educator who gave hundreds of hours of his time to helping establish professional optical training in South Africa and teaching the next generation of optical dispensers.
Above all, he was Gail's husband and the father of Gavin and Craig.
His life took him from Bulawayo to Cape Town and ultimately Toronto, with professional training and experiences taking him still farther afield.
In 1996, he confronted the frightening diagnosis of a brain tumour and survived major surgery, gaining another twenty-five years of life.
David revealed the journey of a man whose life began in post-war Bulawayo and ultimately stretched across continents—a sportsman, husband, father, optical professional, businessman, educator and survivor whose story remains an important part of the Reiff family history.
