Man buys ad to apologize for being a bully in the 1950s

[Thomas Caldwell (left) and the classified ad he purchased to apologize to a former schoolmate / Twitter]

An Ontario man recently bought a classified ad to apologize and make amends with a boy he punched almost 65 years ago.

Thomas Caldwell, 72, offered a public apology to Howard Rosen, a Jewish boy he randomly punched in the face at Runnymede Public School in the early 1950s, BuzzFeed reports.

“The thing that bugged me is that in the back of my mind I knew it was an anti-Semitic thing,” Caldwell told BuzzFeed.

So, he decided to buy an ad in the classified section of the Canadian Jewish News to offer a small apology. The ad reads: “To Howard Rosen, sorry I punched you at Runnymede Public School in the early 1950s. Tom Caldwell.”

Back then, Runnymede Public School in Toronto’s west end was filled with Protestant or Catholic kids and “not many Jewish kids,” Caldwell told BuzzFeed.

“The principal called me in and said, ‘What did you do that for?’ and I said, “Oh my hand slipped.’ But he knew.”

Over the years, Caldwell became chairman of his own wealth management firm, chairman of the Canadian Securities Exchange and a member of the Order of Canada, according to The Toronto Star.

But he often looked back at the incident, which stuck with him through the years.

There was no reason for the punch, Caldwell admitted to the Star, but the fact that Rosen was Jewish probably had something to do with it.

He hopes the ad does reach Rosen, although Caldwell told the Star he isn’t sure if Rosen is still alive. But if he hears from him, Caldwell plans to ask him out for lunch.