Biographical details — Cat Island childhood, Nassau, Miami, New York arrival — are drawn from Poitier’s autobiography This Life (1980), The Measure of a Man (2000), and from his Academy of Achievement interview. Film credits and dates are confirmed via standard filmographic records. A Raisin in the Sun Broadway opening (March 11, 1959) is confirmed via documented production records. Death confirmed January 6, 2022, Los Angeles.
Sources consulted include: aish.com (Sidney Poitier and the Jewish Waiter who Taught Him How to Read); The Forward / St. Louis Jewish Light (The Jewish mentor Sidney Poitier never got to thank); Algemeiner (Interview Resurfaces of Late Sidney Poitier Saying Jewish Coworker Taught Him to Read); good.is (Sidney Poitier Tears Up Recalling How Kind Jewish Waiter Taught Him to Read); britannica.com (Sidney Poitier biography); oscars.org (36th Academy Awards records and collection profile); achievement.org (Academy of Achievement interview).