Swastika grafitti at Strosberg's Windsor home

WINDSOR — Windsor civil litigator HarveyStrosberg was the victim of a vandalism attack at his residence, one of twowithin hours where swastikas were left directed at two prominent Windsor Jewish families.

Strosberg, senior partner with Sutts Strosberg LLP, with offices in Windsor and Toronto and a former law society treasurer, found a black swastika painted on the driveway of his south Windsor home in early August. A few kilometres away, a swastika was also painted on the sign of Tepperman's, a southwestern Ontario furniture store owned by Windsor's Tepperman family. Police haven't made any arrests.

Strosberg immediately offered a $3,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandal, which was joined by an additional $2,000 offered by a friend of Strosberg's anonymously, who Strosberg conceded was someone in the legal community.

It's the first such incident the lawyer, who is prominent both locally and nationally, has experienced, and he described it as a "horribly shocking

discovery."

Strosberg said he was "gratified" by the support from people locally and across the country: "Some I haven't heard from in years and some I don't even know."

The lawyer immediately spoke out against the assailants, calling them "cowards" and saying he wouldn't be intimidated.

"I'm not prepared to sit down and pretend that it didn't happen. I want to stand up and say that it happened. I want to stand up and say that we can't permit this to happen."

There is no legal connection between Strosberg and the Tepperman family. But, said Noah Tepperman, a Tepperman's executive, "if you're somebody who is trying to identify reasonably prominent Jewish families Harvey Strosberg and his children are very successful at what they do, they're in the media a fair bit," and the Tepperman family, through its advertising and involvement in charitable events, have a significant profile.

Two of Strosberg's children, Jay Strosberg and Sharon Strosberg, also work at the law firm and have practices encompassing commercial litigation and class actions. A son-in law, David Robins, also practises at the firm. Strosberg's daughter, Elaine Strosberg, is a Toronto-based Crown attorney.

"So we have deep ties to the legal community in Windsor and across the country," Strosberg told Law Times.

Kenneth Golish, a Windsor criminal lawyer and president of the Essex Law Association, which represents more than 450 area lawyers, said he couldn't recall a similar incident, saying Strosberg and the Teppermans were "easy targets" for that kind of vandalism.

"I'm Jewish myself, so I can understand what his emotions may be over that experience," Golish said.

B'nai Brith legal counsel Anita Bromberg said while attacks on Jewish institutions are one thing, attacks against personal property makes "a much more threatening statement, and I think that's disturbing."