Jef Melamed is a graduate of McGill University and a retired architect and stained glass artist. He spent his first two decades of summer time in the Laurentians - surrounded by family and generations of cousins - before moving full time with his wife Beverlee to Saint Sauveur to ski and raise their two children, Sarah and David, in the mountain air. Today, they split their time between Markham, where Jef spends most days at his son's Artglas Glass Studio—and their Allumette Island 'country house' on the Ottawa River. They still maintain their Laurentian connection as members of the St. Agathe House of Israel Synagogue.