Frank Zakem was born in St. Paul, Quebec in 1931 and moved with his family to Prince Edward Island in 1936. The family operated a small corner store in Charlottetown on Grafton and Weymouth Street from 1936 to 1979.

He received his education at Queen’s Square School, Prince of Wales College and St. Dunstan’s University obtaining his degrees in B. Com., BA, and 8. Ed. After working in the family business for several years, he joined Holland College where he served as principal for twenty six years. He was seconded for six of those years to work in various capacities in Premier Ghiz’s office.

Frank served as city councillor from 1964-1974 and as Mayor of Charlottetown from 1975-1977. It was during his term that the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation was formed and the City Heritage bylaw was introduced that has made significant positive improvements to the Capital City.

In 2001 he wrote The Neighborhood Family Run Corner Store Experience which pointed out the impact that small neighborhood stores had 0 communities across the Island.

The Zakem-Marji Story is Frank Zakem’s research a and maternal great-great grandparents, grandparent going back five generations to 1835.