The Brothers Markle

Reprinted from Image Makers Canada.

In each issue of ImageMakers, we will focus on a member of the Sign association of Canada who has made a positive contribution to or impact on his or her community or the sign industry. In this issue, we look at how Sam and Jack Markle are giving back.

Single-parent homes may be all too common in Canada today, but they were anything but common in the 1940s north end of Winnipeg into which Sam and Jack Markle were born. Their strongly independent mother, Bessie, separated from their father when Jack was only six months old, something rarely seen in the close-knit Jewish community of their neighbourhood. They eventually grew up in their grandmother’s home, along with their mother and two unmarried aunts.

“Our mother was tough,” says Sam. “If we came home from school with 98 per cent, she wanted to know what happened to the other 2 per cent! That kind of drive to achieve our best may have been a contributing factor to the tenacity we’ve needed to thrive in this business for more than 40 years.”

Indeed, when Sam, who is the elder of the “Brothers Markle,” initially came to Toronto, his intention was to simply earn enough money to get him to Paris where he dreamed of becoming an artist. He took a job as a sign painter with a small local company and, in 1955, with $20 borrowed from his roommate, he started his own business. With that money, he bought business cards for $4.50 and a small paint and brush kit and began hand-lettering trucks and other commercial vehicles. Jack, who had arrived from Winnipeg in 1958 planning to pursue a law-school education, joined Sam in the business and the rest, as they say, is history.

By 1966, the brothers had enjoyed significant success with hand-painted signs, but they realized the need for such pieces was diminishing with the increased use of plastics and neon. Knowing nothing about the technical side of neon, but determined to corner a piece of that market, they purchased a small neon company with three employees and merged it with their original business in 1969.

Never abandoning their strong artistic roots, Sam and Jack opened the “Electric Gallery” in 1970, displaying creations that were lit by either battery or electric power. Exhibits came from all over the world and the brothers themselves exhibited pieces in shows in North America and Europe, eventually even making it to Paris, Sam’s original destination of some 25 years earlier. In 1972, Jack was the only Canadian exhibitor at an art show in Basel, Switzerland, where designer Pierre Cardin purchased a $1,200 piece from him. Canadians also responded enthusiastically to their “pre-Warhol pop art”; the National Art Bank in Ottawa has Markle pieces in its lender bank to this day.

Commercially, the Markles kept ahead of the trends and created neon signage for major retail and corporate sites throughout North America, including the landmark 25-foot record disc that identified downtown Toronto’s famous “Sam the Record Man” flagship store.

With close ties to many developers who went under during the recession of the 1990’s, the Markles faced some major challenges to their business, which at that point occupied a 24,000-square foot facility with 40 employees. They not only recovered, with a leaner, more efficient operation, but they also began to look to innovations within the sign industry to create new avenues of business.

Today, their website offers a virtual cornucopia of sign constructions – from neon to computerized directories, illuminated and non-illuminated signs – vehicle graphics, consulting and more. The Markles’ entrepreneurial spirit and their strong artistic and design background have helped them to adjust to the constant changes in signage and to thrive in the rapidly growing industry.

However, it’s not all business for Sam and Jack. Both have used their time and talents to “give back” to both the sign industry and the community. When George Brown College offered its first sign-graphics program, the brothers offered an annual cash bursary and a plaque to the most promising student. “Yeah, and then we hired them,” quips Jack, ever the funny man of the pair.

Currently they offer their time and the benefit of their experience to students at Seneca College who may be starting a new business or learning to “think out of the box” to strengthen an existing business – a skill at which both Markles excel.

Both brothers are active fundraisers for the United Jewish Appeal, while Sam is also active with the Canadian Cancer Society for which he is an area captain. Jack is a natural comic who loves nothing more than doing his stand-up comedy routine at seniors’ homes. He claims the residents are the perfect audience. “I can tell the same joke twice and they don’t remember.”
“Don’t listen to him,” declares Sam. “He never quits.”

Nor will either of the Markle Brothers – at least not anytime soon. With three awards won in the sign-industry’s recent “Image Makers” competition, it’s a good bet that they will remain among our most-creative business leaders for many years to come.

Bessie would be proud.