'Myer changed my life': Montrealer brings St-Viateur bagel-maker's legacy to Vermont

If you're ever in Burlington, Vt., you might come across a little piece of Montreal: Myer's Bagel shop.

It's named after Myer Lewkowicz, a Polish Montrealer and Holocaust survivor who, in 1957, founded St-Viateur Bagel.

Montrealer Lloyd Squires founded Myer's Bagels in the 1990s, after spending years working at St-Viateur and learning everything from Myer himself and his successor, Joe Morena.

Squires named his shop in honour of Myer, who plucked him off the streets as a troubled teen and helped give him purpose.

"Myer changed my life," he told CBC Montreal's Daybreak. "I respect the man, [a] great man who helped a lot of people."

Squires started working at St-Viateur when he was 15, after he'd been kicked out of his family home. He says the weekend work enabled him to stay in school, and that Lewkowicz even helped him buy his first home by helping to pay the 10 per cent deposit.

He said that at St-Viateur, he found more than just a steady job.

"Joe Morena actually taught me how to make bagels and roll bagels," he said. "I think they actually saved me."

Morena was 14 when he started working at St-Viateur Bagel. He went on to buy half the store in 1974, and now at 71 years old, he's passed the family business down to his three sons.

Squires said Morena was "like a father" to him, and that he helped set up Myer's Bagels in Vermont, loaning Squires the money to start his small business.

"Joe actually helped me build my oven down here. He believed in me."

In the years since, the shop has grown and now ships authentic Montreal bagels to all 50 states.

Squires said he was inspired by Lewkowicz's generosity, and wanted his shop to bear the name of the man who changed his life and helped so many others.

"If people came off the street and they didn't have money, he wouldn't question it. He would give them a bagel to help them along," he said. "He donated a lot of stuff in Montreal. I follow that here. I give back to the community."

In keeping with the precedent set by Lewkowicz, Squires works with youth outreach groups and hires teens to work mornings and weekends so they can stay in school.

After almost 40 years of making bagels, Squires plans to keep "happily rolling along."

In fact, on New Year's Eve, his busiest day since opening, he said he personally hand rolled 6,700 bagels.