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CARSCALLEN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-08-22 published
J. Helen CARSCALLEN
By Margaret NORQUAY Friday, August 22, 2003 - Page A18
Social worker, professor, broadcaster, actress. Born January 12, 1916, in Chengtu, China. Died May 28, in Toronto, of natural causes, aged 87.
Helen CARSCALLEN (the J stood for Jane) was born of missionary parents in China, and came to Canada with her family when she was 10. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 1938 with a B.A. in the newly established program in sociology. Graduating during the war, her early jobs included work as a social worker with the Big Sisters Association, an agency that worked with disadvantaged young girls, and three years directing recreation for the employees of a large munitions factory, most of whom were women. At the age of 30, she decided she would change her career about every 10 years -- and managed to do it. In 1945, she went to Toronto Children's Aid, where her work in public relations engendered an interest in mass media.
In 1956 she joined the public affairs department of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her previous work experience had led to a deep interest in the quality of women's lives and in 1962 she became senior program organizer for Take Thirty, a daily afternoon television show aimed at middle class, stay-at-home women. It was not a program filled with food, fashion and household décor, but one that gave women something for the mind and alerted them to issues of social concern. A weekly discussion called Fighting Words presented a debate then raging about the need to change federal divorce laws. A much admired series, Under One Roof, looked at the whole family life cycle from courtship to empty nest; for this Helen recruited emerging author June CALLWOOD to research and write several programs. Another series, unique for its time, took Helen to Japan to bring back insights from a culture then unfamiliar to most Canadians. Adrienne CLARKSON, co-opted initially to review Canadian novels, became a host of the show. Convinced women's lives were worthy of examination, Helen organized a national conference sponsored by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation called the Real World of Women -- the first of its kind in Canada. In 1966, at 49, Helen left broadcasting to pursue graduate studies in sociology, her dissertation focusing on the political machinations leading to the cancellation of This Hour Has Seven Days. Helen then became a professor at Ryerson University, teaching courses in communication. After 10 years there, it was time for another change: this time to become an actor.
Throughout each of her careers Helen maintained a passionate interest in theatre, acting in amateur groups and taking courses in acting and voice from George Luscombe, Dora Mavor Moore and others. She toured with the New Play Society and worked with Alumnae Theatre as actor, stage manager and producer. At 62, she auditioned for Robin Philips and played the nurse in the Stratford Festival's Uncle Vanya, which starred William Hutt, Martha Henry and Brian Bedford. She then moved to television and film, playing a variety of dramatic roles. At 81, she wrote that now -- visually impaired and no longer able to read scripts her ambition was to teach a series of seminars on multiple careers for women. Illness unfortunately prevented her reaching this goal.
Helen had a great capacity for Friendship. At a recent celebration of her life, colleagues, Friends and family spoke of the debt they owed her for the vision she gave them of their own unique abilities. Nieces, nephews and some grand-nieces spoke movingly about what a wonderful aunt she was -- how she never talked down, always treated them as adults, wanting to know what they were up to. Former colleagues talked about how Helen launched them in their careers, persuading them to believe in themselves and providing ongoing support. Helen gave something of herself to each of us and we were all enriched.
Margaret is a friend of Helen.

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CARSON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-20 published
Andre HAMER
By Nancy Hamer STRAHL, Art McDONALD and Patty CARSON
Thursday, March 20, 2003 - Page A24
Husband, father, family man, scientist, traveller. Born January 17, 1968, in Oshawa, Ontario Died February 2 in Ottawa, of colon cancer, age 35.
Andre came from a family where education came naturally. He was raised in a stimulating environment, by loving parents who fostered his natural curiosity and provided him with ample learning opportunities by 17, Kant and Nietzsche were his bedtime favourites. Andre was very proud of his Belgian ancestry and visited his family's homeland many times. He and his sister loved to travel and shared this love during the teenage years -- from visiting the top of the Alps to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.
He studied at the University of Toronto, and later earned an M.Sc. and PhD in experimental physics from Queen's University in Kingston where he met his future wife, Rosalie McKENNA. A mutual friend thought they would be perfect for each other (because they both loved old movies) and arranged for them to meet. It was February 9th -- and it was love at first sight. The clincher came when Andre said "Get it, got it, good!" and Rosalie immediately recognized the line from an old Danny Kaye movie. For Valentine's Day, Rosalie sent Andre a single red rose.
When they were married, their reception was held in the grand "train" room in Ottawa's Museum of Science and Technology. It was perfect. In the background was man's testament to our quest for knowledge and in the foreground (like an old movie with Doris Day singing Que sera, sera) were two young lovers alighting from the train, beginning life's journey.
That life journey soon included fatherhood. Andre was patient and loving with Patrick and Michael. He read to the boys each day, passing on his love of reading.
Andre loved science and he was particularly good at experimental science. Everything he did was done to completion, starting with innovative concepts and continuing to the finished product that did its intended job 100 per cent -- nothing less. He was regarded as one of the very best young particle astrophysicists in the world. He played a central role in the success of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, thus contributing directly to our current knowledge of the universe. Andre developed the central calibration device for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory experiment for his doctoral thesis at Queen's University, carried out major analyses essential for Sudbury Neutrino Observatory's success as a post-doctoral fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and presented the major results from Sudbury Neutrino Observatory at the American Physical Society meetings in April, 2002. His legacy in science continues as his contributions are used every day by his colleagues at Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.
Andre lived by his personal motto "L'espoir fait vivre" (hope gives life). He loved to listen to his mother's inspiring stories of Grandmother Lea's use of this motto during their fight to survive the Second World War. Throughout his difficult struggle with cancer, Andre maintained a balance between his intellectual pursuits and caring for his spiritual and physical self. Two days before his untimely death, he was reading articles that summarized our current knowledge of the universe from its most microscopic regions to its farthest distances. Later on, he watched an inspirational video about nature with his son. He and his son Patrick talked about how they would climb mountains and build bridges over the rivers.
On February 7, his family (including some from Belgium), Friends old and new, and colleagues (from as far away as New Mexico), gathered to mourn the passing of a gentle soul and a great scientist. His coffin was adorned with a single red rose. On March 8, his third son, Andre Luc McKenna HAMER, was born.
Nancy is Andre's sister, Art his thesis advisor, Patty his sister-in-law.

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CARSWELL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-10 published
CARSWELL, Frederick W. (Honours B.A. - University of Western Ontario 1935)
Long time resident of Ste-Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, died peacefully in Toronto on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 at the age of 90. Beloved husband of Anne for over 64 years. Loving father of Mary Anne CARSWELL and Robert S. CARSWELL and his wife Carol Ann BARTLETT. Cherished grandfather of Janet A. CARSWELL and her husband Rob BOSINGER and Andrew J. CARSWELL and his wife Sara Rose CARSWELL. Proud great-grandfather of Sophia Rose CARSWELL. Dear brother of Robert. Friends may call at the Turner and Porter Yorke Chapel, 2357 Bloor Street West, at Windermere, east of the Jane subway, from 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, 2003 until the time of the Memorial Service in the Chapel at 3 p.m. Cremation. If desired, donations may be made to the Victorian Order of Nurses.

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CARTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-07 published
Canada's Catholic leader, CARTER dies at 91
By Michael VALPY Religion And Ethics Reporter Monday, April 7, 2003 - Page A1
Three weeks ago, John TURNER met Gerald Emmett CARTER for their annual St. Patrick's Day drink. The former prime minister held the glass for his friend of 50 years while he sipped his Irish whisky through a straw.
When the retired cardinal archbishop of Toronto died yesterday morning at the age of 91, a reputation as richly coloured as the scarlet of his soutane died with him.
Canadian Roman Catholicism will probably never see his like again: a prince of the church who, while never unmindful of the meek and the poor, made no bones about being comfortable rubbing elbows with fellow princes of politics and business.
He was the close friend of prime ministers and premiers. He enjoyed socializing in the corridors of power with people like Conrad BLACK, Hilary and Galen WESTON and Fredrik EATON. He displayed an unabashed fondness for Progressive Conservative Party gatherings. ("I think at one Christmas party, I was the only Liberal there," Mr. TURNER said in an interview.)
Yet academics and religious and business leaders also spoke yesterday of a man with an acute understanding of Canada and its history.
They described an intense, intellectual democrat who believed he should speak out forcefully on the moral and political issues of the day and who welcomed debate with those who disagreed with him. And they talked of a cleric who profoundly understood the nature of the church and who welcomed ecumenism and Canada's emerging pluralism.
"He felt the institution of religion should have a public voice and he was not shy about exercising it," said Michael HIGGINS, principal of St. Jerome's University in Waterloo and co-author of My Father's Business, the 1990 biography of Cardinal CARTER.
"Whenever he spoke, his voice was strong, clear, public, undiluted and welcomed by political leaders even when they disagreed with him. It is an unfortunate circumstance that the marginalization of religious debate occurred at the same time as he was eclipsed by a stroke, retirement and age, at a time when his church needed him. He embodied a certain kind of churchman we probably won't see again."
Cardinal CARTER suffered a stroke in 1981 and retired in 1990.
Cardinal Aloysius AMBROZIC, his successor as archbishop of Toronto, said Cardinal CARTER "wanted to know what the movers and shakers were doing."
Cardinal AMBROZIC described him as a man totally engaged with his church and with his society -- an advocate for the poor, for immigrants and for the homeless.
"What I admired about him, what I found so instructive about him, was his sense of responsibility for the church and for society at large. He was very much a man of Vatican 2 [the church's 1962-65 ecumenical council] and he knew what the Catholic Church was about."
There was also, said Cardinal AMBROZIC, "his own personal style. He had panache."
The priest who rose from a working-class Montreal background to become the most powerful cleric in Canada met Mr. TURNER when the former prime minister was a young lawyer in Montreal doing legal work for the church. "He was a great human being who understood the balance between the religious and secular worlds," Mr. TURNER said.
"He loved tennis, and he had a wicked serve."
Former prime minister Pierre TRUDEAU consulted him on the Constitution in the early 1980s and became a close friend. At the celebration of Cardinal CARTER's 75th birthday in 1987, instructions were given that an entire pew was to be reserved for Mr. TRUDEAU in Toronto's St. Michael's Cathedral.
Mr. TRUDEAU delayed his arrival until just before the cardinal entered the church. "All eyes were trained on TRUDEAU until Cardinal CARTER arrived," said Dr. HIGGINS. "It was symbolic of the close relationship they had."
Toronto's Anglican Archbishop, Terence FINLAY, who first met Cardinal CARTER when they were both bishops in London, Ontario, in the 1970s, said the Roman Catholic Church in Canada had lost a great leader.
"He enabled us to bring our churches closer together. I certainly counted on him as a friend and colleague. He had an impressive understanding of Canada's history and political situations. He knew who we were."

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CARTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-07 published
Cardinal felt at ease with politics, power
Corporate Friends, conservative image concealed complexities, contradictions
By Michael VALPY Monday, April 7, 2003 - Page A9
Gerald Emmett CARTER presided over the Roman Catholic Church in Toronto for 12 years with panache, deftness, wit and worldliness too much worldliness, some of his critics thought.
The retired cardinal archbishop, who died at 91 yesterday morning after a brief illness, chummed with the powerful of business and politics and became the most influential cleric in Canada.
He was a personal friend of Pope John Paul 2nd. His weight was felt in Vatican circles and his administrative expertise -- and connections with the elite world of corporate finance -- were valued by the church's governing Curia.
He raised millions of dollars for charity through his annual cardinal's dinner, pressed governments for social housing and worked energetically to improve race relations in a city being transformed from a WASPy bastion into a multicultural and multiracial metropolis. His was the largest and wealthiest English-speaking diocese in Canada.
In the North American church's tumultuous years after the 1961-65 Second Vatican Council, the most significant reassessment of the Catholic Church since the 16th century, Cardinal CARTER was branded a conservative by many Catholic liberals. It was a superficial label for a complex and astute pastoral theologian and a man whose intelligence was described as commanding.
The conservative label, for one thing, did not take into account Cardinal CARTER's publicly tepid response to Pope Paul 6th's reaffirmation of the church's opposition to birth control.
Or that he once said Catholics were "not required to agree with [the Pope's] every word or act." Said the cardinal: To think that a good Catholic is obliged to agree with the Pope on everything "would, at the very least, make for a very dull church."
But he strained ecumenical good fellowship in Ontario by relentlessly and, eventually, successfully -- prodding the provincial government to legislate full financing for the Roman Catholic separate school system. He intervened in the Newfoundland constitutional referendum on ending public financing of denominational schools.
He publicly defended his church's rules for an all-male, celibate priesthood. He wrote a pastoral letter calling Dr. Henry MORGENTALER's abortion clinic an "abomination" and calling on Christians to oppose its operations. But he also ordered his priests to stop distributing literature of militant anti-abortion groups.
When the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops swung to the left in its criticisms of the national government's fiscal policies, Cardinal CARTER bluntly took the opposite direction.
And he objected to the conference's decision in 1984 to study a plan to give women and girls a more prominent role in the church and attracted noise and notoriety three years later when he ordered a suburban Toronto church not to allow a teenaged girl to be an altar server at mass.
Cardinal CARTER, a Montreal typesetter's son who made his mark as an academic and teacher before climbing the church's ranks, looked stern in public, gave arid homilies and was known to intimidate his priests.
But he was mischievous and funny in private, played a superb game of tennis and was a sought-after dinner guest in the homes of Toronto's business and political elite.
He was, among other things, credited with converting Conrad BLACK to Catholicism, and his name often appeared in the press alongside those of political leaders such as former Ontario premier William DAVIS, prompting Globe and Mail columnist Orland FRENCH to write: "His presence at glittering Tory functions is overly noticeable and it would be fair to speculate that he discussed with the Premier the advantages of extending funding to separate schools."
Born in Montreal in 1912, Cardinal CARTER was a priest for nearly 66 years and a bishop for 40 years. His brother Alexander, who died last year at 93, had retired as bishop of the Ontario diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. Two sisters were nuns, one of them the head of her order.
Cardinal CARTER was educated at the Grand Seminary of Montreal and the University of Montreal. He spent the first 25 years of his priesthood working in various educational fields in the province of Quebec.
In 1939, he founded St. Joseph's Teaching College in Montreal and was its principal until 1961. For 15 years, he was English commissioner for the Montreal Catholic School Commission. He was a professor of catechetics -- the formation of faith -- for 25 years.
He was installed as the first auxiliary bishop in the diocese of London, Ontario, in 1961 and became the eighth bishop of London in 1964.
In 1971, he headed the International Committee for English in the Liturgy, which was responsible for translating Latin texts for the mass and the sacraments.
In 1977, he was elected a member of the Permanent Council of the Synod of Bishops in Rome, which sets the topics for the International Synod of Bishops in Rome every two or three years.
Pope John Paul named him a cardinal, one of only four in Canada, in May of 1979, a year after he became archbishop of Toronto.
From the moment he was installed as archbishop, promising to serve all who "would like to see Toronto as something more than an asphalt jungle," Cardinal CARTER put his job in the spotlight and, very often, himself in the hot seat. He tackled controversial issues with a candour that won him arrows and acclaim from politicians, minority groups, the church laity and sometimes fellow clergy.
At the same time, he was loyal to the Pope and to the official teachings of the church, declaring in 1979 that the time had come to end the dissent within the church that had followed Vatican 2 and turn the 1980s into a time of reaffirmation of faith.
"We have had enough of confusion, enough of confrontation, enough of dissent. We are the believers. Those who go looking for dissent are not Catholic."
His ties with the Pope were personal. John Paul, as archbishop of Krakow, had visited Cardinal CARTER in London, Ontario, and had him stay as a houseguest in Poland. Cardinal CARTER, in turn, was host to the Pope at his Rosedale home when the pontiff visited Toronto in 1984.
His funeral will be held at 10: 30 a.m. Thursday in St. Michael's Cathedral, Toronto.

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CARTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-26 published
CARTER, Thomas Kenneth
Died of respiratory failure late Wednesday, April 23rd, 2003, at Toronto General Hospital, surrounded by his family, after a brave struggle to survive a recurrence of lung cancer. Dearest husband of Marguerite for 50 years. Beloved father of Melissa Anne GRAY/GREY (née CARTER,) Michael (wife Suzanne,) and Scott (wife Kelly). Loving grandfather to Alex, Caitlin and Cameron, and great-grandfather to Sarah and Erika. Dear brother of Sylvia CLEMENTSON (née CARTER) (husband John) and Jim (wife Jean.) Cremation has taken place. In lieu of flowers, any donations to Habitat for Humanity, Guelph Humane Society, or charity of choice, would be greatly appreciated. Heartfelt thanks to Dr. Andrew PIERRE, Dr. SHARGAL, Dr. JUGNAUTH, Dr. KAPALA, and thoracic team, for their care and support, as well as to all the wonderful nurses on 7 Eaton Wing. Funeral Mass at St. Gabriel's Parish, 650 Sheppard Avenue East, Willowdale, Ontario, at 11 a.m. on Monday, April 28th.

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CARTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-07 published
MORGAN, Margaret Kathleen (née DAVIS)
Died in her sleep at her home in Toronto on Thursay, June 5, 2003. Beloved wife for 56 years of the late Robert MORGAN. Dear mother of Robert Davis MORGAN (Karen) and Lynn CANTOR. Proud grandma to Scott MORGAN (Nicole), David MORGAN, Adam CANTOR and Sarah Alexandra CANTOR. Predeceased by her older brother, Gordon DAVIS, and her twin Frederick DAVIS. Best pal of Marian CARTER for 75 years. Margaret was born in Winnipeg in 1915. Before her marriage she worked for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio in Winnipeg. Her marriage to Bob took her to Halifax, Saint John, Ottawa, Edmonton, London, Ontario and finally Toronto where a lifelong love of the ballet led her to become involved with the newly formed National Ballet of Canada. She founded the National Ballet's ''Paper Things'' store, and was President of the Volunteer Committee. She was a Past-President of the Southern Ontario Unit of the Herb Society of America, a member of the Toronto Herb Society, and a Governor of Sunnybrook Hospital. Her joyful spirit and sense of fun will be sadly missed by her vast network of Friends who played bridge with her at the York Club, golfed with her at The Toronto Hunt, marveled at her creative talents with The Garden Club of Toronto, and partied with her at Goodwood, Longboat Key and Muir Park. She loved life and she lived with amazing grace.
A memorial service will be held at Lawrence Park Community Church, 2180 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, on Tuesday, June 10 at 2 o'clock p.m. In honour of Margaret's commitment to the ballet, donations in her memory may be made to Development, Special Gifts, The National Ballet of Canada, 470 Queen's Quay West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3K4. Arrangements in the care of Trull 'North Toronto' Funeral Home andCremation Centre, 2704 Yonge Street (5 blocks south of Lawrence) 416-488-1101

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CARTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-28 published
BEST, Winnifred McDonald
Winn BEST died peacefully on June 24, 2003, at the age of 95. Loving mother of Catherine CARTER (Donald) of Kingston and Michael BEST (Patti) of Waterloo. Beloved grandmother of Ian CARTER (Chrissie YAO), Colin CARTER (Toni THORTON), Gillian BEST, David BEST and Kerri BEST and great-grandmother to Nathan CARTER. Loving aunt to Elizabeth McDONALD (Ken WEST) and Anne HILLMER and her children Victoria and Andrew. Special friend to Norbert MacKENZIE. Predeceased by her husband John BEST, her brother Murray McDONALD and her sister-in-law and best friend, Catherine McDONALD. Winn lived for her family and Friends, her warmth and empathy will not be forgotten. A memorial service will be held at the church that she grew up in, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 9860 Keele Street, Maple, Ontario, on Thursday, July 3, 2003 at 1: 30 p.m. Donations in memory of Winn may be made to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 9860 Keele Street, Maple, Ontario L6A 1R6.

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CARTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-09-16 published
Senior's death baffles neighbour
By Anthony REINHART Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - Page A16
The sight of an ambulance is nothing unusual to residents of the Kempford Apartments on Yonge Street in North York.
This is, after all, a seniors building, with many residents in declining health.
Still, no one could have anticipated the reason paramedics and police had to race here last Saturday evening, as the late-summer sun dipped behind the 14-storey building.
They arrived to find the broken body of 81-year-old Kuna EPELBAUM, a long-time resident, lying in the driveway.
And 12 storeys up, beyond the open window from which Mr. EPELBAUM had jumped, they found his mentally handicapped daughter, Sophia, strangled to death with a cord.
Police have no doubt that Mr. EPELBAUM, a retired dentist who immigrated to Canada from Eastern Europe in the 1970s, killed his 43-year-old daughter before taking his own life.
What they don't know -- and indeed, may never know with certainty is why.
Mr. EPELBAUM left no note before he leapt, nor had police ever been called to Apt. 1211 because of trouble in the past, said Detective Randy CARTER of the Toronto Police homicide squad.
The working theory, after interviews with Mr. EPELBAUM's three surviving children in the Toronto area, is that he was upset because his family was arranging to move his daughter out of his apartment to live on her own.
"I guess it's all maybe educated speculation, but our investigation showed us that the two of them had been living together for a number of years, and that was about to change," Det. CARTER said yesterday. "And something in that arrangement caused him to do what he did."
Family members declined comment yesterday, but the disturbing events were on the minds of many at the apartment building, one of several well-kept high-rises clustered on Yonge just south of Finch Avenue.
One woman, who said she had known Mr. EPELBAUM since his wife died 15 years ago, said he frequently expressed worry about Sophia's future after he, too, passed away.
"He was very concerned about this child, wondering what would happen to her if he died," she said, declining to be identified. "And it worried him to death."
Mr. EPELBAUM, known as Nick to some of his neighbours, suffered from shingles, a painful skin condition. He also had been struggling with pain from a fall several months ago, in which he broke his shoulder and arm.
"He would say many times, 'It won't be long before I'll be with my wife again,' " the woman said. "He was getting on the verge of feeling life isn't worth it, and we'd urge him on -- 'Come on, Nick, get out there and talk with the guys.'
While Det. CARTER said Mr. EPELBAUM and his daughter had lived together continuously since Mrs. EPELBAUM's death, his neighbour offered a different account.
She said Sophia moved out of her father's apartment for a time several years ago, "to give him a break," first living in an institution, then in an apartment on Bathurst Street, with help from a city social worker. She was unable to hold a paying job, but volunteered at a hospital, she said.
Then Sophia went missing from her own apartment before resurfacing at her father's place, the woman said.
Ever since, the widower and his daughter seemed to enjoy a close and caring relationship.
The woman said that when she last saw Mr. EPELBAUM a few days ago, he was worried because Sophia had not yet returned from the store.
The next thing she heard, her old neighbour was dead, and so was his daughter.
"I can't imagine him doing it," the woman said, in the building's lobby yesterday afternoon.
"He wouldn't harm a flea, and all of a sudden this happens. It's just not right."

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CARTIER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-12 published
'He kept a little flame of geometry alive'
Superstar University of Toronto mathematician considered himself an artist, but his seminal work inevitably found practical applications
By Siobhan ROBERTS Saturday, April 12, 2003 - Page F11
Widely considered the greatest classical geometer of his time and the man who saved his discipline from near extinction, Harold Scott MacDonald COXETER, who died on March 31 at 96, said of himself, with characteristic modesty, "I am like any other artist. It just so happens that what fills my mind is shapes and numbers."
Prof. COXETER's work focused on hyperdimensional shapes, specifically the symmetry of regular figures and polytopes. Polytopes are geometric shapes of any number of dimensions that cannot be constructed in the real world and can be visualized only when the eye of the beholder possesses the necessary insight; they are most often described mathematically and sometimes can be represented with hypnotically intricate fine-line drawings.
"I like things that can be seen," Prof. COXETER once remarked. "You have to imagine a different world where these queer things have some kind of shape."
Known as Donald (shortened from MacDonald,) Prof. COXETER had such a passion for his work and unrivalled elegance in constructing and writing proofs that he motivated countless mathematicians to pick up the antiquated discipline of geometry long after it had been deemed passé.
John Horton CONWAY, the Von Neumann professor of mathematics at Princeton University, never studied under Prof. COXETER, but he considers himself an honorary student because of the COXETERian nature of his work.
"With math, what you're doing is trying to prove something and that can get very complicated and ugly. COXETER always manages to do it clearly and concisely," Prof. CONWAY said. "He kept a little flame of geometry alive by doing such beautiful works himself.
"I'm reminded of a quotation from Walter Pater's book The Renaissance. He was describing art and poetry, but he talks of a small, gem-like flame: 'To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.' "
Prof. COXETER's oeuvre included more than 250 papers and 12 books. His Introduction to Geometry, published in 1961, is now considered a classic -- it is still in print and this year is back on the curriculum at McGill University. His Regular Polytopes is considered by some as the modern-day addendum to Euclid's Elements. In 1957, he published Generators and Relations for Discrete Groups, written jointly with his PhD student and lifelong friend Willy MOSER. It is currently in its seventh edition.
Prof. COXETER's self-image as an artist was validated by his Friendship with and influence on Dutch artist M. C. ESCHER, who, when working on his Circle Limit 3 drawings, used to say, "I'm Coxetering today."
They met at the International Mathematical Congress in Amsterdam in 1954 and then corresponded about their mutual interest in repeating patterns and representations of infinity. In a letter to his son, Mr. ESCHER noted that a diagram sent to him by Prof. COXETER that inspired his Circle Limit 3 prints "gave me quite a shock."
He added that " COXETER's hocus-pocus text is no use to me at all.... I understand nothing, absolutely nothing of it."
While Mr. ESCHER claimed total ignorance of math, Prof. COXETER wrote numerous papers on the Dutchman's "intuitive geometry."
Though Prof. COXETER did geometry for its own sake, his work inevitably found practical application. Buckminster FULLER encountered his work in the construction of his geodesic domes. He later dedicated a book to Prof. COXETER: "By virtue of his extraordinary life's work in mathematics, Prof. COXETER is the geometer of our bestirring twentieth century. [He is] the spontaneously acclaimed terrestrial curator of the historical inventory of the science of pattern analysis."
Prof. COXETER's work with icosohedral symmetries served as a template of sorts in the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the Carbon 60 molecule. It has also proved relevant to other specialized areas of science such as telecommunications, data mining, topology and quasi-crystals.
In 1968, Prof. COXETER added to his list of converts an anonymous society of French mathematicians, the Bourbakis, who actively and internationally sought to eradicate classical geometry from the curriculum of math education.
"Death to Triangles, Down with Euclid!" was the Bourbaki war cry. Prof. COXETER's rebuttal: "Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But the Bourbakis were sadly mistaken."
One member of the society, Pierre CARTIER, met Prof. COXETER in Montreal and became enamoured of his work. Soon, he had persuaded his fellow Bourbakis to include Prof. COXETER's approach in their annual publication. "An entire volume of Bourbaki was thoroughly inspired by the work of COXETER," said Prof. CARTIER, a professor at Denis Diderot University in Paris.
In the 1968 volume, Prof. COXETER's name was writ large into the lexicon of mathematics with the inauguration of the terms "COXETER number," " COXETER group" and "COXETER graph."
These concepts describe symmetrical properties of shapes in multiple dimensions and helped to bridge the old-fashioned classical geometry with the more au courant and applied algebraic side of the discipline. These concepts continue to pervade geometrical discourse, several decades after being discovered by Prof. COXETER.
Prof. COXETER became a serious mathematician at the relatively late age of 14, though family folklore has it that, as a toddler, he liked to stare at the columns of numbers in the financial pages of his father's newspaper.
He was born into a Quaker family in Kensington, just west of London, on February 9, 1907. His mother, Lucy GEE, was a landscape artist and portrait painter, and his father, Harold, was a manufacturer of surgical instruments, though his great love was sculpting.
They had originally named their son MacDonald Scott COXETER, but a godparent suggested that the boy's father's name should be added at the front. Another relative then pointed out that H.M.S. COXETER made him sound like a ship of the royal fleet so the names were switched around.
When Prof. COXETER was 12, he created his own language -- "Amellaibian" a cross between Latin and French, and filled a 126-page notebook with information on the imaginary world where it was spoken.
But more than anything he fancied himself a composer, writing several piano concertos, a string quartet and a fugue. His mother took her son and his musical compositions to Gustav HOLST. His advice: "Educate him first."
He was then sent to boarding school, where he met John Flinders PETRIE, son of Egyptologist Sir Flinders PETRIE. The two were passing time at the infirmary contemplating why there were only five Platonic solids -- the cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron. They then began visualizing what these shapes might look like in the fourth dimension. At the age of 15, Prof. COXETER won a school prize for an English essay on how to project these geometric shapes into higher dimensions -- he called it "Dimensional Analogy."
Prof. COXETER's father took his son along with his essay to meet friend and fellow pacifist Bertrand RUSSELL. Mr. RUSSELL recommended Prof. COXETER to mathematician E.H. NEVILLE, a scout, of sorts, for mathematics prodigies. He was impressed by Prof. COXETER's work but appalled by some inexcusable gaps in his mathematical knowledge. Prof. NEVILLE arranged for private tutelage in pursuit of a scholarship at Cambridge. During this period, Prof. COXETER was forbidden from thinking in the fourth dimension, except on Sundays.
He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1926 and was among five students handpicked by Ludwig WITTGENSTEIN for his philosophy of mathematics class. During his first year at Cambridge, at the age of 19, he discovered a new regular polyhedron that had six hexagonal faces at each vertex.
After graduating with first-class honours in 1929, he received his doctorate under H. F. BAKER in 1931, winning the coveted Smith's Prize for his thesis.
Prof. COXETER did fellowship stints back and forth between Princeton and Cambridge for the next few years, focusing on the mathematics of kaleidoscopes -- he had mirrors specially cut and hinged together and carried them in velvet pouches sewn by his mother. By 1933, he had enumerated the n-dimensional kaleidoscopes -- that is, kaleidoscopes operating up to any number of dimensions.
The concepts that became known as COXETER groups are the complex algebraic equations he developed to express how many images may be seen of any object in a kaleidoscope (he once used a paper triangle with the word "nonsense" printed on it to track reflections).
In 1936, Prof. COXETER was offered an assistant professorship at the University of Toronto. He made the move shortly after the sudden death of his father and following his marriage to Rien BROUWER. She was from the Netherlnds and he met her while she was on holiday in London.
As a professor, Prof. COXETER was known to flout set curriculum. Ed BARBEAU, now a professor at the U of T, recalled that at the start of his classes, Prof. COXETER would spread out a manuscript on the desks at the front of the room. During his lecture, he would often pause for minutes at a time to make notes when a student offered something that might be relevant to his work in progress. When the work was later published, students were pleasantly surprised to find that their suggestions had been duly credited.
Prof. COXETER was also known to show up to class carrying a pineapple, or a giant sunflower from his garden, demonstrating the existence of geometric principles in nature. And he was notorious for leaping over details, expecting students to fill in the rest.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's resident intellectual, Lister SINCLAIR, was one of Prof. COXETER's earliest students. He once recounted that Prof. COXETER would "write an expression on the board and you could see it talking to him. It was like Michelangelo walking around a block of marble and seeing what's in there."
Asia Ivic WEISS, a professor at York University, Prof. COXETER's last PhD student and the only woman so honoured, describes an incident that perfectly exemplifies Prof. COXETER's math myopia. Going into labour with her first child, she called him to cancel their weekly meeting. Prof. COXETER, who never acknowledged her pregnancy, said not to worry, he would send over a stack of research to keep her busy when she got home from the hospital.
Despite several offers from other universities, Prof. COXETER stayed at University of Toronto throughout his career.
Like his father, he was a pacifist. In 1997, he was among those who marched a petition to the university president's office to protest against an honorary degree being conferred on George BUSH Sr. Prof. COXETER recalled with disdain Robert PRITCHARD's telling him, "Donald, I have more important things to worry about."
After his official retirement in 1977, Prof. COXETER continued as a professor emeritus, making weekly visits to his office. These subsided only in the past several months. On the weekend before his death, he finished revisions on his final paper, which he had delivered the previous summer in Budapest.
In his last five years, he survived a heart attack, a broken hip (he sprung himself from the hospital early to drive to a geometry conference in Wisconsin) and, most recently, prostate cancer.
Considering his 96 years of vegetarianism and a strict exercise regime, he felt betrayed by his body. "I feel like the man of Thermopylae who doesn't do anything properly," he commented recently after an awkward evening out, quoting nonsense poet Edward LEAR.
Prof. COXETER died in his home, with three long last breaths, just before bed on the last day of March.
His brain is now undergoing study at McMaster University, along with that of Albert EINSTEIN. Neuroscientist Sandra WITELSON is tryng to determine whether his brain's extraordinary capacities are associated with its structure.
Prof. COXETER met with her at the beginning of March and learned that the atypical elements of Einstein's brain, compared with an average brain, were symmetrical on both right and left sides.
Prof. WITELSON said she wondered whether there might be similar findings with Prof. COXETER's brain. "Isn't that nice," he said. "I suppose that would indicate all my interest in symmetry was well founded."
Prof. COXETER leaves his daughter Susan and son Edgar. His wife died in 1999.
Siobhan ROBERTS is a Toronto writer whose biography of Donald COXETER will be published by Penguin in 2005.

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CARTMELL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-08-23 published
SCRIVENER, John Rodney
Died peacefully, August 21, 2003, at home in Carlsbad, California. Predeceased by his wife, Mildred, and by two of his brothers, Richard and Robert. Survived by his children, Jay SCRIVENER and Jane CARTMELL of California, Judy CLARK of Switzerland, Judy's mother, Hazel, of Beaverton, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and by his brother, Alan, of Toronto. An Engineering graduate of the University of Toronto ('40), he worked with Alcan, Kaiser Aluminum, Harvey Aluminum and Martin-Marietta. After retiring in 1975, Rodney travelled extensively, by van and bicycle, in Europe and Mexico, for 20 years. In 1995, he settled in Carlsbad, close to his son, Jay. At Rodney's request, there will be no memorial service. Condolences may be e- mailed care of jayscrivener@cox.net

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CARTWRIGHT o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-21 published
CARTWRIGHT, Joan Elizabeth
Joan Elizabeth CARTWRIGHT, 65, died on June 12th, after a long and courageous fight with breast cancer, at her daughter's home in East Hardwick, Vermont. Her daughter Deborah and son-in-law Tim were with her at her final breath. Joan was born in Toronto, Ontario, to William Bovell and Mary Elizabeth (POTTER) CARTWRIGHT. She moved to Montreal, Quebec, where she attended McGill University, and then Concordia University, from where she graduated with distinction. After marriage, she raised her family of four children living in Montreal and then again in Toronto. She moved to Wolcott, Vermont in 1992, and bought and renovated an old schoolhouse in the country. Her household consisted of several cats, all of which were orange tigers, and her beloved dog Joey, with whom she spent hours every day walking the back roads, visiting her neighbors, and playing ball. She also kept herself busy by volunteering at local libraries, was an extremely voracious reader and had a wide knowledge of books. She loved her crossword puzzles in the weekend paper, and indeed loved any type of word challenge especially Scrabble! Joan adored her grandchildren, and although she didn't see them often, never missed an opportunity to talk with Friends about them and show off photos. She was an accomplished knitter, and was pleased to give away her beautiful sweaters, dozens of which she donated to local charities. She is survived by her sister, Eleanor HUNT of Ontario; her ex-husband, L. Lamont GORDON of Toronto, Ontario; her children: Katharine GORDON and husband Chuck MITCHELL of Wolcott, Vermont, Deborah and husband Tim HARTT of East Hardwick, Vermont, James GORDON and wife Shannon McQUILLAN of Kamloops, British Columbia, and Pamela GORDON of Toronto, Ontario; her grandchildren, Keaven, Connor, Seamus, Haley, Walker, Sam, Laura and Angus; and several nieces, nephews and cousins. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, June 29th, in Toronto, Ontario. Memorial donations may be made in Joan's name, to The Frontier Animal Society of Vermont, 502 Strawberry Acres Road, Newport, Vermont 05855.

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CARVER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-12 published
SMITHSON, Minna Marion (née RUMPEL)
In Kitchener, on Thursday, April 10, 2003. Born August 14, 1912, Minna was in her 91st year. She and her parents, Walter George RUMPEL and Marion Louise KOCH had all been born in old Berlin (Kitchener). After all these years, Minna has finally gone dancing with Jake, her best friend, companion and husband John Robertson SMITHSON who died 41 years ago in Kitchener. She will always be fondly remembered as a loving mother of Sydney Ann SMITHSON of Cambridge and John Thomas SMITHSON and his wife Elly of Vancouver, British Columbia; as a devoted sister of John Walter RUMPEL of Kitchener; as an enthusiastic aunt of David John RUMPEL and wife Renie of Waterloo, Reverend Sidney SMITHSON and his wife Elizabeth of London, Mary SMITHSON of Oakville; as a loving aunt to several nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews in Ontario and British Columbia. For many years, Minna had been a teacher in the Kitchener schools and since the death of her husband had been a member of Saint John's Anglican Church. The family wishes to extend special thanks to her companions and Friends that have cared for her over the last years at her home and also to her nurses in The Frank and Glady Voisin Intensive Care Unit/Coronary Care Unit, Saint Mary's General Hospital, Kitchener. The family will receive Friends at the Ratz- Bechtel Funeral Home and Cremation Centre, 621 King Street West, Kitchener, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. on Sunday. Funeral services with family and Friends will be conducted at The Church of Saint John The Evangelist, 23 Water Street North, Kitchener at 11 a.m. on Monday with Reverend Sid SMITHSON and Archdeacon Neil CARVER officiating. As expressions of sympathy, the family would appreciate donations to the Saint John The Evangelist Anglican Church Building Fund or to the charity of your choice.

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CARVER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-22 published
He founded Readers' Club of Canada
Nationalist visionary struggled financially to publish Canadian writers
By Carol COOPER Special to The Globe and Mail Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - Page R7
In the early 1960s, when writers asked Peter and Carol MARTIN where to publish their manuscripts on Canada, the couple realized how few choices there were. Inspired, the Martins, both voracious readers, staunch nationalists and founders of the Readers' Club of Canada, decided to start their own press. In 1965, Peter Martin Associates came into being. Last month, Peter MARTIN died of lung cancer in Ottawa.
In an industry overshadowed by American companies, Peter MARTIN Associates was among the first in a wave of independent publishing houses to open during a time of rising Canadian nationalism.
Launched in a downtown Toronto basement on a shoestring budget, skeleton staff, idealism and enthusiasm, the company flew by the seat of its pants. Its employees were often young and new to the business. But many, including Peter CARVER, Michael SOLOMON and Valerie WYATT, went on to become Canadian mainstays.
"It really was a time of Canadian nationalism and those of us who believed in that cause could see what Peter and Carol were doing," said Ms. WYATT, a children's editor who spent four years with the company in the seventies.
During the 16 years before its sale in 1981, Peter Martin Associates published approximately 170 works, mainly non-fiction. Its presses put out I, Nuligak, the autobiography of an Inuit man; The Boyd Gang by Marjorie LAMB and Barry PEARSON; Trapping is My Life by John TETSO; and the Handbook of Canadian Film by Eleanor BEATTIE. Others who came through their doors included Hugh HOOD, Robert FULFORD, John Robert COLOMBO, Douglas FETHERLING and Mary Alice DOWNIE -- all to have their works published.
Started with small amounts of seed money from private investors and no government funding, Peter Martin Associates constantly struggled financially. At one point, for a bit of extra cash, the office became the designated nuclear-fallout shelter for the street. Pat DACEY, once the firm's book designer, lugged suitcases of books up the street to sell at Britnell's bookstore with summer employee Bronwyn DRAINIE.
Working at Peter Martin Associates was always fun, Ms. WYATT said. "You went in to work happy and you stayed happy all day."
Still, in a time when Canadian works received little recognition, she remembers finding it difficult to get media interviews for the author of Martin-published book.
Yet another title caused trouble with its subject. The company was putting out a collection of previously published sayings of former prime minister John DIEFENBAKER, called I Never Say Anything Provocative, edited by Margaret WENTE. Mr. DIEFENBAKER heard about the project, called Mr. MARTIN and threatened to sue. Mr. MARTIN stood firm.
"He handled it with such élan," said writer Tim WYNNE- JONES, then in the art department. "He was suitably dutiful, but not in awe. Mr. DIEFENBAKER was just over the top, as was his wont."
The book went to press and Mr. DIEFENBAKER did not go to court.
Once listed along with Peter GZOWSKI in a Maclean's magazine article on "Young Men to Watch," Mr. MARTIN was born on April 26, 1934 in Ottawa to a dentist father and a mother who drove an ambulance in the First World War. The younger of two sons, he attended Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario and the University of Toronto, where he earned a degree in philosophy.
During a year in Ottawa as the president of the National Federation of University Students, Mr. MARTIN met his first wife Carol. They married in 1956 and moved to Toronto. Three years later, they founded the Readers' Club in Featuring one Canadian book a month, it distributed works by Mordecai RICHLER, Irving LAYTON, Morley CALLAGHAN and Brian MOORE among others, and supplied its members with coupons. While continuing to run the Readers' Club (sold in 1978 to Saturday Night Magazine and closed in 1981), the MARTINs started Peter Martin Associates.
Throughout his career, Mr. MARTIN spoke out for Canadian publishing. Alarmed by the sale of Ryerson Press and Gage Educational Press in 1970 to American firms, he called a meeting of publishers to discuss problems in the industry. Named the Independent Publishers Association, the group started in 1971 with 16 members and with Mr. MARTIN as its first president. In 1976, it was renamed the Association of Canadian Publishers and continues today with 140 members. As a result of the group's efforts, Canadian publishing began to receive federal and provincial funding.
In the late 1970s, the MARTINs went their separate ways. Afterward, Mr. MARTIN published a small newspaper, The Downtowner, and owned a cookbook store with his second wife, Maggie NIEMI. In 1983, they moved near Sudbury, Ontario, where Mr. MARTIN did freelance book and theatre reviews, then moved to Ottawa in 1985 to work as president for Balmuir Books, publisher of the magazine International Perspectives and consulting editor for the University of Ottawa Press.
After a spinal-cord injury in 1997, Mr. MARTIN was left a quadriplegic, except for limited use of his left arm. Even so, he remained active, maintained a heavy e-mail correspondence and spent time in the park reading while seated in a bright-yellow wheelchair.
Mr. MARTIN leaves his children Pamela, Christopher and Jeremy and his wife Maggie NIEMI. He died on March 15.

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