Keeping Brandon Ossip’s memory alive

GILLIAN KLAWANSKY

“Brandon was like any young kid – full of life,” says his brother Anton Ossip, who’s now the CEO of Discovery Insure. “He had a great sense of humour and was very sporty, a very well-rounded, well-liked, popular person. He was just a happy, young Jewish boy.”

While in his grade 9 year at KDVP, Brandon passed away in a car accident in April 1997.

“He was eight years younger than me,” says Anton. “There were three siblings in the family, myself, my sister and him. It’s a very hard thing to deal with for any family. Different people deal with it in different ways.”

The Ossips battled to process Brandon’s death and barely spoke about it. “My family went through some horrific times in the same year,” says Anton. “We lost my mother just six months after Brandon’s death, so it was really rough.”

In 1997, the year Brandon died, KDVP planted a tree in his memory and initiated an annual all-rounder trophy award in his name.

“The tree was planted outside the school hall about a week after his death,” says Anton. “It’s now enormous. I’m grateful for all King David has done. It was such a shock at the time that it was hard for us as a family to do anything – it was just too hard to deal with.

“I’ve always wanted to do something, though and it’s weird that it took 20 years to happen. Better late than never.”

Also looking for a way to honour his memory 20 years after his death, Brandon’s closest friends decided to rejuvenate the area around the tree at KDVP.

“They came together from around the world and decided to make it a nice place for the kids to use,” explains Anton. “So, they added a bench and a water fountain there and paved around the area. The school held a ceremony to open it a few months ago.”

At the ceremony, which the Ossips attended, one of Brandon’s friend’s David Kaplan, made a speech. “It was the same speech he’d made at the time of Brandon’s death, when he and his friends were just grade 9 boys standing there, not knowing what hit them. It was very touching.”

Afterwards, Anton was approached by pupil Gaby Nossel who had been awarded the Brandon Ossip best all-rounder award earlier this year. Coincidentally, Gaby is also the son of Dr Craig Nossel, Anton’s colleague at Discovery.

“Gaby wanted to do something more through dedicating the soccer tournament to Brandon’s memory,” explains Anton. “For me it was important that even 20 years later we find a way to remember him and to ensure that other people remembered him too.” Anton sponsored the tournament and hopes to make it an annual event.

“Having his memory resurface so he’s not faded into history, is important to me,” he continues. “I have young kids and so does my sister and they obviously never got to meet their uncle, so it was also important for them to experience this too.

“It was also a significant milestone in terms of the long-term grieving journey – it never stops, but this added some kind of structure to the process.”

While Anton acknowledges that his family still aren’t fantastic communicators, he’s grateful that the event helped them deal with Brandon’s death a bit more. “There’s a picture of my father with my sister, myself and all our children at the tournament – the next generation.

“Everyone deals with loss in their own way,” says Anton. “I think it’s important for people who go through loss to know that they’re not alone, though, to know that others have been through similar things.

“It’s difficult to think you’ll ever survive, it but you will. I don’t know how, but you find the strength to get through it.”