Of the handful of memories I have of builder/philanthropist Abraham (Al) Green, one stands out: while leading a Sculptors Society of Canada walking tour of sculptures placed around Mr. Green’s high rises in the Yonge-Davisville area – by Sorel Etrog, Maryon Kantaroff and Al Green himself – a 12- or 15-year-old Cadillac pulled up. Dressed in rumpled sweater and squinting in the sunlight, Mr. Green quietly joined our tour group.

But, rather than offer insight (or correct me), he simply listened with interest as I parroted things he’d told me the year before. After a few stops, and feeling increasing intimidated by his presence, I introduced him to the crowd of 40 or 50 people and said: “Of course he can explain this better than I can.”

To that, Mr. Green simply shook his head and answered: “Oh no, you’re doing a great job; I’m just here to listen.”

In the 15 or so years since then and with dozens of interviews with other developers under my belt, I’ve come to the conclusion that Mr. Green’s humility is commonplace. Filmmaker Ron Chapman agrees.

“It was one of the big moments for me in the film,” he says of Shelter, which opened the Toronto Jewish Film Festival on June 3 and will run on Omni Television this month. “Mendel Tenenbaum [co-founder of the Tenen Group in 1956] did not want to be interviewed – I pursued him and pursued him – [but] he had no interest.” It was only after his daughter, Sally Tenenbaum, gave an interview that Mr. Tanenbaum, then in his 90s, acquiesced. But, even as the film opens and the screen is still black, he can be heard saying, “So who cares?” about his story.

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