Otto Lowy(1921-2002)

Famous host of CBC Radio's weekly nationally broadcast "The Transcontinental," affectionately known as a "musical train ride through Europe," Otto Lowy has been a fixture on Canadian radio since 1980 and a well-known stage performer. Born in Czechoslovakia into an assimilated Jewish family, Otto was the only member of his immediate family to survive World War II. His parents and some two dozen other relatives perished in Auschwitz. Otto Lowy's life was saved when his mother put him on a train to Holland just three days before the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939. Reaching England, he spent the war years as ground crew for the Czech Air Force squadron of the Royal Air Force. Settling in Canada after the war, where he resided in Vancouver with his wife, Barbara, Otto Lowy enjoyed a rich career on radio, stage and screen.