Esther Ghan Firestone [SEP] date of death
Esther Ghan Firestone
Esther Ghan Firestone (1925 – 28 May 2015) was the first female cantor in Canada, although she was not ordained. She began as a cantor in the mid-1950s at Toronto’s Temple Beth-El, and worked in Toronto at Temple Beth-El (mid-1950s to mid-1960s), Temple Emanu-El (1977), and later at Congregation Habonim Toronto from 1985 until some time in 2015. She was also a member of Kol Nashim (Hebrew for “All Women”), a sextet
name was Ghan. Her mother had fled to Canada to escape the pogroms in Ukraine, where she had been imprisoned and assaulted and had faced great poverty. Esther's uncle suggested she adopt the stage name of Esther Ghan for the sake of her career. She later married Paul Firestone and had six children: Debbie, Shawn, Jay, Danny, Ari and Hillary; Hillary died of ovarian cancer in 2009.
Further reading.
Flanagan, Marie. "Music and baby food mix beautifully for her," Toronto