Item 202000778 - Interview with Gabriel Simaan 1997

Interview with Gabriel Simaan – 1967
Gabriel began his career at St David’s in grade 1, 1956 as a day boy becoming a boarder in

1965. He remembers crying all day and his teacher, Mrs Brick sat him next to Derek
      Schoombie. Gabriel was the first of Nassey Simaan’s sons at the school. He also recalled
      his brother Antoinne killing all the fish in the fish pond. Gabriel took a bus to Corlet Drive
      then walked to school most days and with his brothers delivered milk on the way.
      All the boys were scared of Mrs Kenesovitch. Br Andrew was in charge of sport. When in
      boarding school the boys could work out when Br Andrew was in his room and on one
      accession George Da Matto, David Palmer and Geoff Price went off for a smoke on the
      lower field. Br Andrew got wind of this, put on his habit and went out with his torch and
      caught them. The matric boys sat at the head table in the dining room and Br Andrew walked
      up and down using a chain to hit boys if they misbehaved. Gabriel put books in his pants
      when he was sent to Br Anthony for caning. Other Brothers were Br Vincent and Br Bosco
      (Mario).
      Gabriel enjoyed the sports days and athletics events were very special. Gabriel didn’t play
      soccer but went instead into the U12 rugby team at the age of eleven. The boys were only
      allowed to play rugby once they reached high school. He didn’t play cricket but played tennis
      and participated in athletics. Gabriel was a good rugby player in the high school with Nassey
      being the rugby coach. Gabriel was captain of the U13A but was eventually dropped as
      captain because he was too naughty. His team U13, U14 and U15 won almost all their
      games.
      Although Gabriel loved athletics he always had to compete with Terence Lavery who held
      the world record for U17 sprint. In high school, Lavery had to drop out of rugby and
      concentrate on running and as a consequence their rugby team was no longer so strong and
      began to lose games. The Marist weekend in Cape Town was a phenomenal experience.
      The boys planted the new cricket fields, knocking on doors in the area for donations and
      were very successful. In standard 9 they were sometimes allowed out of school in the
      evenings. One of the boys, George Da Matta’s father owned a fish and chip shop, and he
      lent the boys his truck to transport the grass which they collected from nearby Gabriel’s
      home in Buccleuch and planted up the rugby and cricket fields. Br Anthony was not aware of
      the boys trips to the fish and chip shop in Melville.
      Gabriel made some good friends which included Jo Stravino, Anthony Reswick, Peter De
      Kock, Kevin Hussey, Johnny Williamson and Johnny Miranda.
      Gabriel was appointed prefect in his matric year, was awarded his honours blazer, scrolls for
      merit and rugby and was also captain of the army rugby side, Roodepoort. He was selected
      for the Transvaaal U20 rugby team but injured his hand and stopped playing although his
      father, Nassey maintained it was because he discovered women! Nassey was always
      disappointed that Gabriel didn’t become a provincial Transvaal rugby player.
      On leaving St David’s, Gabriel went into the army followed by 5 years studying pharmacy at
      the Johannesburg Technical College. He then opened his own pharmacy and
      pharmaceutical companies together with his brother Andrew and currently owns Eurolab. He
      was awarded the Healthcare IMS award in 1996.
      Eurolab opened 18 months ago and is currently the second biggest supplier of generic
      oncology drugs only marketing drugs which have been approved by the US Federal Drug
      Agency and the MCC in Europe.
      Gabriel supports a settlement nearby his game lodge establishing a community centre, a
      store to sell goods.
      JLE July 2013