KASH o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-23 published
Mary Elizabeth
STARR
By Elizabeth
STARR, Michael
STARR and Laurie
STARR Tuesday, December
23, 2003 - Page A22
Musician, teacher, mother, mother-in-law, sister, granny. Born
March 4, 1920, in Toronto. Died August 3 in Toronto, of a brain
hemorrhage, aged 83.
Mary STARR lived a full life teaching the cello to generations
of students and enjoying a close relationship with her family.
Growing up in Toronto, Mary received her licentiate in cello
in 1947 from the then-Toronto Conservatory of Music (now the
Royal Conservatory) -- the highest possible diploma, and a rather
uncommon achievement at the time for cellists. As a member of
the Conservatory orchestra, she remembered seeing "a young kid"
who played a piano concerto with the orchestra. The "young kid"
was Glenn GOULD.
Through the 1940s and 1950s she travelled extensively
throughout Ontario playing chamber music with various Canadian
musicians who were to become well known: Victor
FELDBRILL,
Eugene
KASH, Stuart
HAMILTON, Steven
STARYK, and John
COVEART among
them.
After her future husband Frank (a singer) went to England, he
managed to entice Mary over in 1951 by sending her programs of
the concerts that were happening in London. There Mary worked,
practised, played, went to concerts, and got married in 1952.
After returning to Canada (and two children later), Mary's teaching
career was well under way. Through her career she taught with
the Metropolitan Toronto School Board as an itinerant cello teacher,
privately with the Royal Conservatory of Music, and in the Seneca
College Suzuki program. She taught three-year-olds, school-aged
children, high-school students, university students and even
a few of the parents of her students. After years of doing four
to six schools per day walking up three flights of stairs (it
always seemed to be three flights of stairs) with a cello and
music, she left to concentrate on private teaching. Although
a number of her students went on to become professional cellists,
Mary remained a tireless advocate of the fundamental value of
musical education to developing and informing the enjoyment of
the art of music throughout one's life; this was more important
to her than becoming a professional musician.
Whether at music camp where she was a faculty member for many
years, or her regular Monday night quartet sessions where we
will always appreciate the warm vibrations and wonderful harmonies
that crept through our house, the opportunity to play chamber
music, just for fun, was one of the great pleasures for Mary
throughout her life.
With the death of Frank in 1969, Mary had to work hard to support
the family to cover all the "needs" and most of the "wants."
She did this admirably.
The last six years of Mary's life, after moving into an apartment
in her son and daughter-in-law's house, were surely among her
best. There she had security with independence, community with
privacy, and a granddaughter who lived just downstairs. She would
sit ensconced in her big green chair, content to let life swirl
around her as she read, needle-pointed, embroidered, or knitted.
Nothing thrilled Mary more than when 11-year-old Laurie and a
few of her Friends took up cello last year. So began private
teaching all over again -- not something she expected at the
age of 82, but this was much more fun!.
Mary was Mary right to the end. After making an impressive recovery
from a broken hip and arm suffered through an encounter with
a revolving door, she was soon to be discharged from the rehabilitation
hospital. She was in good spirits, had her sense of humour, and
craved her "big green chair." She worked hard for that goal that
unfortunately was not to be.
Elizabeth and Michael are Mary's children; Laurie is Mary's granddaughter.
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KASPERSION o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-09-11 published
SEGAL,
Murray
Eckler Partners Ltd. mourns the passing of its esteemed partner,
Murray SEGAL, who died on September 1, 2003 after a brief battle
with cancer. A prominent actuary, Murray joined Eckler Partners
44 years ago. In addition to his professional consulting activity
Murray served on the Board of Directors and as the firm's Chief
Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary for the past many years.
The loss of our treasured colleague and friend is immeasurable.
Murray headed up Eckler Partners' Actuarial Evidence practice
and was considered by many to be Canada's leading practitioner
in the field. He played a key role in numerous landmark cases
and was greatly respected by his peers, including fellow actuaries,
economists, lawyers and judges.
Murray was known for his love of his family, his community and
his profession. Murray's commitment and dedication to the betterment
of the actuarial profession was unfailing. Throughout his career
he served tirelessly on advisory committees and professional
organizations.
Murray's integrity and intelligence were matched only by his
humility, good humour and generosity. He was a great (and usually
anonymous) contributor to community charities, and passionately
lobbied for causes near to his and his family's heart. He will
be remembered always by his colleagues for his frequent and spontaneous
acts of kindness and for the respect he extended to one and all.
Murray will be missed immensely, both personally and professionally,
by so many. We extend heartfelt condolences to his wife Marlene
and his three sons, Gerald, Ernest and Moshe, and their families.
In honour and memory of Murray
SEGAL,
Eckler
Partners
Ltd. is
establishing a Murray Segal Memorial Award in Actuarial Science
at the University of Manitoba, Murray's alma mater. Donations
are welcome, and may be made through David
BROWN at Eckler Partners
(telephone: (416) 696-3016 or email: dbrown@eckler.ca), or through
Diana KASPERSION, at the Department of Private Funding, 179 Continuing
Education Complex, 406 University Crescent, University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2. Donations should be made payable
to the University of Manitoba.
Page B2
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KASTA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-11 published
HERGERT,
Raymond
Henry
Died peacefully in Toronto, on Sunday, November 2, 2003 in his
93rd year. Raymond was the only child of the late L. K.
HERGERT
and Emily Victoria
THOM. He graduated from Upper Canada College
and joined his father in business at Hunts Limited. He retired
as Vice-President of Canadian Food Products. Raymond and his
loving wife, Janet
WINNIFRED, enjoyed happy years of retirement
at Lake Nipissing. He leaves his treasured daughters, Sally
WHITE/WHYTE
and Wendy KASTA, and his dear son-in-law, Peter
WHITE/WHYTE.
His beloved
grandchildren, Paul and Tim
KASTA,
David
WHITE/WHYTE and his wife
Mary
Jane YULE,
Nancy
WHITE/WHYTE and her husband Mark
BADALI, and Steven
WHITE/WHYTE, share wonderful memories of Poppa. He was the adored great-grandfather
of Amanda WARD,
Thomas
WHITE/WHYTE, Alex and John Henry
BADALI, and
Matthew and Carly
WHITE/WHYTE. A private family service was held with
interment at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. If desired, donations may
be made to the charity of your choice.
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KASYN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-17 published
The duke of hernia surgery
Working at the Shouldice Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario, he claimed
never to have seen two hernias alike and perfected a technique
that reduced hospital stays
By Bill GLADSTONE
Special to The Globe and Mail Thursday, April
17, 2003 - Page R9
Nicholas OBNEY, who performed more than 32,000 hernia operations
during his long career at the renowned Shouldice Hospital in
Toronto and Thornhill, Ontario, once told a television interviewer
that he had never encountered two hernias the same.
Dr. OBNEY joined the Shouldice Hospital in 1946 and was its chief
surgeon between 1965 and his official retirement in 1988. He
continued working for several years thereafter "because his heart
was here -- it was his whole life," said hospital spokesperson
Daryl URQUHART. "He was so dedicated to his patients that he
couldn't stop coming in."
The celebrated herniologist, who died in Thornhill, Ontario,
at the age of 84, was on call all the time. He read every patient
history before assigning them to his team of surgeons.
At his busiest, he averaged five or six hernia operations a day,
six days a week, and usually performed the hospital's most difficult
cases himself. He is credited with perpetuating and improving
upon the pioneering medical techniques devised by his mentor,
hospital founder Dr. E. Earle
SHOULDICE, who died in 1965.
A hernia is a protrusion or displacement of an intestine or other
internal organ through the muscular lining of the cavity in which
it is located. Surgeons have referred to the Shouldice method,
which uses natural tissues to strengthen the lining, as "the
gold standard by which all other hernia repairs should be measured."
The original Shouldice Hospital was located in downtown Toronto
but expanded northward in the 1950s into a white colonial-style
mansion acquired from the estate of former Globe and Mail publisher
George McCullough. The downtown facility was eventually closed
and the Thornhill property later expanded into an 89-bed facility
with six operating rooms, in which about 7,500 procedures are
performed each year.
Until American insurance rules changed in the 1980s, nearly half
of the hospital's patients came from the United States, including
as a 1982 profile of Dr.
OBNEY in People magazine noted --
several entertainment celebrities and even a state governor.
A photo accompanying the People article showed Dr.
OBNEY helping
a patient step down from the operating table. As the article
noted, most patients receive only a local anesthetic and walk
away from the operating room on their own steam.
As opposed to the treatment they might receive in a general hospital,
patients at Shouldice are encouraged to become active almost
immediately after surgery. (A second photo in the People spread
showed Dr.
OBNEY golfing with six bathrobed patients on the hospital's
putting grounds.) Shouldice officials assert that most patients
recover much more quickly than those who have hernia repairs
elsewhere, and are usually discharged within two or three days.
According to senior surgeon Dr. Michael
ALEXANDER,
Dr.
OBNEY
taught him to abandon the practice of inserting a nasal-gastric
tube into patients, which "used to be standard procedure for
every patient having such an operation.
"He said, 'Don't put one of those tubes down, wait for the patients
to declare themselves to see if they have a problem with nausea
and vomiting.' And out of 300 patients, we never put a tube down.
In fact, when that tube is put down, there's a much higher chance
of lung complications."
The proven success of such pioneering methods has attracted scores
of visiting doctors to the hospital from all over the world,
Dr. ALEXANDER said.
Dr. OBNEY "did so many operations, he used to get a feel for
the patient, which can only happen when you do thousands. He
had a strong intuitive sense -- he had it by pure experience.
I can't think of a case where he was wrong."
Few surgeons could ever hope to match Dr.
OBNEY's record of 32,000
hernia operations, Dr.
ALEXANDER said. "Can you imagine that
many people? You'd have to fill up Maple Leaf Gardens, empty
it out and fill it up again."
Born as an only child in the Ukrainian village of Ronaseowka
in 1918, Nicholas's parents brought him to Canada when he was
9, and settled in Toronto's west end. As soon as he learned English,
he began to excel in school -- Charles Fraser Public School,
then Parkdale Collegiate. His father, a machinist, borrowed $300
to pay for his tuition to the University of Toronto medical school,
from which Nicholas graduated in 1942.
Interning at Toronto General Hospital, he entered the Royal Canadian
Medical Corp, where he encountered one of his former university
instructors -- E. Earle
SHOULDICE -- acting as an army surgical
consultant attempting to reduce the number of men rejected for
military service because of hernia conditions. Dr.
OBNEY assisted
in that effort, and in 1946 joined the newly established Shouldice
Hospital at the corner of Church and Charles streets in Toronto.
"He started working with Dr.
SHOULDICE as an understudy and Dr.
SHOULDICE showed him his method," said his daughter, Dr. Jeannette
FROST. "
Then together they improved on the technique."
According to family and colleagues, Dr.
OBNEY disliked travelling,
especially by air, and attended relatively few of the many medical
conferences at which he was asked to speak. He once went to a
conference in Los Angeles by train, and came straight home when
it ended a few days later. Another time, persuaded to speak in
Australia, he agreed to fly there but not to stay even one day
more than necessary before returning home.
He enjoyed spending time on the family's 25-acre "hobby farm"
in what is now the Beaver Creek industrial area of Thornhill.
When the land was expropriated about 20 years ago, he and his
wife felled all of the property's 16 trees: The family still
has no shortage of firewood. Aside from being extremely economical,
he was known for his plain tastes in food and his perfectionism.
His hobbies included military history and classical music.
He was highly organized and "ran the hospital like clockwork,"
according to retired supervisory nurse Brenda
OWENS, who was
also his cousin.
"He was always so approachable, he seemed like a volume of knowledge,
he did his work quickly and accurately, and he expected the same
type of behaviour from his staff."
In 1998, the American Hernia Society awarded Dr.
OBNEY with a
plaque that cited him as "an unselfish master surgeon" known
for "his generosity with knowledge and encouragement to visiting
surgeons."
Nicholas OBNEY died on February 15. He leaves his wife of 59
years, the former Stephanie
KASYN; and his daughter Jeannette.
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