Samuel Norton Tomkin

Samuel "Sonny" Norton Tomkin (27 August 1908 – 31 January 2013) was a British-born South African architect. As a partner of the firm Hanson, Tomkin & Finkelstein, with Norman Leonard Hanson and Nathan Finkelstein, they were one of the most significant pre- and post-war groups of architects operating in South Africa. In the Transvaal and Natal, Tomkin designed university buildings, hospitals, government buildings and synagogues, including the Great Synagogue in Durban. In 1965, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Honour from the Institute of South African Architects. Finkelstein left the firm in 1950, with architect Herbert Prins becoming a name partner in the firm in 1960. In 1956, together with Hanson, he designed the government offices on Durban's esplanade.

In the early 1960s he designed Durban's Great Synagogue on Essendon Road in Berea. A landmark building in Durban, a scale model of the building was added to Mini Town in 1987, a tourist attraction consisting of Durban's most iconic buildings in miniature form.

In 1965, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Honour from the Institute of South African Architects. The following year he was the recipient of civic honours from the City of Durban for nearly 40 years of contributions to its town and regional planning developments.

Personal life Tomkin married Rita Barnard, with whom he had two children, Neil and Janet. Neil died in December 2014.

Tomkin died on 31 January 2013 in Toronto, at the age of 104. He is buried in the Adath Israel section of Pardes Shalom Cemetery in Vaughan.