Jack Heeren

Jack Heeren
Born	1923 Holland
Died	January 29, 2002 Canada

Jack Heeren (1923-2002), an accountant by trade, performed magic on television and before such luminaries as Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, King Saoud of Saudi Arabia and Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. In 1954 Heeren took first prize in mental magic at the NMU convention in the Netherlands. won first at the Radio City Competition with his mental act in 1955.

Biography

He became interested in magic at the age of 12. At the age of 16, Germany attacked Holland and during occupation his home was taken over by German troops and had to live with his family in their basement. In 1945, after Holland was liberated, British and Canadian soldiers were all around and Heeren entertained them. He would eventually broadened his repertoire to include hypnosis and mentalism. Immediately after the war, as a Scoutmaster, Heeren was asked to accompany a group of children to England, where they would be fed and looked after to recover from the years of war. He then developed a children's act and puppet show and traveled by bicycle to perform.

In 1959, Heeren immigrated his family to Canada where he found a job as an accountant. He also started performing magic again and joined many magic organizations including the I.B.M. in 1961, served as president of the Toronto Hat And Rabbit Club, the Kitchener Hat And Wand Club, the English Magic Circle and The Canadian Association Of Magicians.