RAHIMI o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-02 published
Architect had a passion for museums
He won Governor-General's Award for a high-rise called 'a superior
project' and helped to put the Royal Ontario Museum on the map
By Allison
LAWLOR
Friday,
May 2, 2003 - Page R11
For
Toronto architect Henry
SEARS, working in museum-exhibit
planning and design proved to be the perfect fit. What better
place for a man interested in the world to delve into the fine
details of everything from fossils to Meissen china?
"He had an inquiring mind, "said Doreen
SEARS, his wife of 51
years. "[Museums] fed his natural curiosity in the most wonderful
way."
Mr. SEARS, who died on March 19 at the age of 73, began his museum
work in the mid-1970s at the Royal Ontario Museum when he was
hired to be part of a task force to plan future expansion of
the Toronto institution.
"Our job was to reimagine the Royal Ontario Museum, "said Louis
LEVINE, director of collections and exhibitions at the Museum
of Jewish Heritage in New York. At the time, Mr.
LEVINE was a
curator at the Royal Ontario Museum and part of the task force.
"He was the one who made us think. He wouldn't take fuzzy answers
from us, "Mr.
LEVINE said.
Mr. SEARS relished his job. Mr.
LEVINE recalled how his good
friend would show up at meetings unable to contain his enthusiasm.
With the excitement of a young child, he would describe to the
group, many of whom were academic archeologists, what he had
learned on his travels through the museum.
"He was hungry for information. He wanted to know how things
work, "said his son Joel
SEARS.
The task force produced an influential publication called Communicating
With the Museum Visitor in 1976, which became a textbook for
museum work, said Dan
RAHIMI, director of collections management
at the Royal Ontario Museum. The publication put the museum on
the world map as being a leader in museum theory, Mr.
RAHIMI
added.
In subsequent years, Mr.
SEARS continued to work with the Royal
Ontario Museum on various projects ranging from designing travelling
exhibits to gallery space. "He was so sensitive to the content.
He would always ask what is this gallery about? What stories
do they tell?" Mr.
RAHIMI said.
Aside from the Royal Ontario Museum, Mr.
SEARS worked with several
other museums across Canada, the United States and Europe. In
recent years, he and his firm Sears and Russell were working with
the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin in the planning for
a new permanent gallery. Mr.
SEARS also worked with the Nova
Scotia Museum, the Peabody Museum at Yale University and the
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
among others.
"I don't think he ever had the sense that he would ever retire,"
said Jeff WEATHERSTON, an architect at Sears and Russell. "He
just loved the work here."
Henry SEARS was born in Toronto on October 30, 1929. After graduating
from Harbord Collegiate Institute in downtown Toronto, he went
on to study architecture at the University of Toronto, from which
he graduated in 1954. While at university he met a young woman
named Doreen on a blind date. The couple married on July 1, 1951,
and later had two sons.
After graduating from university, the young couple headed to
Europe where they spent six months travelling before heading
home. Back in Toronto, Mr.
SEARS went to work for a variety of
architectural firms before heading out on his own. In the late
1950s he and a partner Jeff
KLEIN started the firm Klein and
Sears. They worked on several housing projects in the city, including
the Alexandra Park Co-operative. Built in the 1960s, the large
public-housing project was one of the city's earliest such schemes.
A fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Mr.
SEARS received a Governor-General's Award for residential design
in 1985. The award was for Cadillac Fairview Corp.'s Bay-Charles
Towers, a mixed-use project designed by Mr.
SEARS.
"A superior project, "the jury selecting the winners said at
the time. According to the jury, the Toronto project shows that
"the basic high-rise type provides opportunities for richness
of expression hitherto rarely explored."
In 1984, Mr.
SEARS created a new firm called Sears and Russell
that was dedicated solely to museum work. Over the years, he
acted as a mentor to several young architects who came to work
for him and others who worked with him in the museum field.
Outside of work, Mr.
SEARS loved to travel, and spent time at
the family's country place near Meaford, north of Toronto, and
on a sailboat on Lake Ontario. An avid sailor, Mr.
SEARS continued
to race even last year. "He was endlessly energetic and enthusiastic,"
Joel SEARS said.
Mr. SEARS, who died following a battle with cancer, leaves his
wife, Doreen, and sons Alan and Joel.
"He was an optimist to the last minute, "Mr.
LEVINE said. "He
added beauty to the world."
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RAHNASTO o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-21 published
FREEMAN,
Willard▼
Arthur,▼ 1922-2003
Arthur, dear husband of Margaret, died June 18, 2003. He was
the loved and respected father of James, Donald and Peter and
grandfather of Jamie, John, Jeffery, Jennifer, Dustin, Wyatt
and Skyler. He is survived by his sisters-in-law Lorna
FREEMAN,
Helen LOVE and Alison
FLYNN (Michael). Uncle Art will be missed,
especially at the cottage, by his nieces and nephews, Wendy and
Paul Sherwood, Malcolm and Elizabeth
GRAHAM, David and Judy
LOVE,
Barbara LOVE,
Jane▼ and Tim
ELLIOT/ELLIOTT, Joe
FLYNN and their children.
Grandpa▼ will also be remembered by Jane MacCabe
FREEMAN, mother
of Jamie, John, Jeffery and Jennifer and Laila
RAHNASTO, mother
of Dustin, Wyatt and Skyler. Cremation has taken place. A service
will be held at Central Presbyterian Church (Charlton and Caroline,
Hamilton, Ontario) on Monday, June 30th at 11 a.m. A reception
will be held in the Guild Room of the Church following the service.
Flowers gratefully declined.
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RAHNASTO o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-24 published
FREEMAN,
Willard▲
Arthur,▲ 1922-2003
Arthur, dear husband of Margaret, died June 18, 2003. He was
the loved and respected father of James, Donald and Peter and
grandfather of Jamie, John, Jeffery, Jennifer, Dustin, Wyatt
and Skyler. He is survived by his sisters-in-law Lorna
FREEMAN,
Helen LOVE and Alison
FLYNN (Michael). Uncle Art will be missed,
especially at the cottage, by his nieces and nephews, Wendy and
Paul SHERWOOD,
Malcolm and Elizabeth
GRAHAM, David and Judy
LOVE,
Barbara LOVE,
Jane▲ and Tim
ELLIOT/ELLIOTT, Joe
FLYNN and their children.
Grandpa▲ will also be remembered by Jane MacCabe
FREEMAN, mother
of Jamie, John, Jeffery and Jennifer and Laila
RAHNASTO, mother
of Dustin, Wyatt and Skyler. Cremation has taken place. A service
will be held at Central Presbyterian Church (Charlton and Caroline,
Hamilton, Ontario) on Monday, June 30th at 11 a.m. A reception
will be held in the Guild Room of the Church following the service.
Flowers gratefully declined.
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