In March 1939, he left Vienna through a Kindertransport rescue mission and, as a result, spent ten months in Doncaster, England, where he attended the Percy Jackson Grammar School.
In order to make ends meet, the family started Spiratone Fine Grain Laboratories, a photo-processing business, in their apartment.
Spira worked for the family business as well as part-time for another photofinisher, while attending evening high school and graduating as the class valedictorian.
In 1946, Spira opened a store on West 27th Street and started to sell a variety of photographic equipment, including cameras and accessories, by mail.
In the late 1940s, he became one of the first importers to work with Japanese manufacturers in developing lenses, flash units, exposure meters, tripods, and other photographic accessories.
[11] Todd Gustavson, Technology Curator at George Eastman House, called it "one of the most important photo-history books of the last quarter century.