WEATHERSTON 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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WEAVER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-08-08 published
Dr. Fred JOHNSON.
Born
January 23, 1910 Died July 15, 2003
Dr. Fred JOHNSON had a long and distinguished career as an obstetrician
and gynecologist. He was a fine clinician, a leader of local
and national stature, a shaper of careers, an inspiring teacher
and most of all a role model for all who knew him. He was raised
in a loving family on a farm near Hamilton. He joked that he
went into medicine to avoid farm chores. Graduating from the
University of Toronto in 1936, he interned at the Hamilton General
Hospital and went on to Western Reserve University in Cleveland
completing his training obstetrics and gynecology in 1941. He
joined the staff at Hamilton General Hospital in 1942 and with
Dr R.T. WEAVER made Hamilton renowned for skills in vaginal surgery.
In 1958, he became Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hamilton
Civic Hospitals and served in that position until 1972, 14 years.
During his tenure a new medical school was developed at McMaster
University. In 1966 he became one of its first Professors and
in 1968 became the founding Chair of the Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology. He built a new academic department based on strong
clinical departments at the Henderson and
St Joseph's Hospitals.
He recruited and helped train many residents and many faculty
who have gone on to practice in Hamilton, in other communities
in Canada and in the U.S. Many of his graduates and his faculty
have gone on to become national and international leaders in
Obstetrics and Gynecology. All have their own personal stories
to tell about how Fred stimulated, supported and shaped them.
He provided critical support and guidance to those in his department
who were developing what at that time were sometimes controversial
new sub-specialty programs, particularly in gynecological oncology
and maternal-fetal medicine. Fred was a wonderful educator. In
the 1970's, Dr Bill
WALSH, then Associate Dean at McMaster wrote
of him as 'a senior physician who provides a role model as mature,
wise, humane and expert - all at the same time.' Dr
JOHNSON
also helped guide and plan the building of McMaster University
Medical Centre and was its first President as well as it's Clinical
Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1971-1975. Hamilton was
not alone in recognizing his abilities and accomplishments. He
became an examiner for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
in 1964. He was invited to be a Visiting Professor at Ohio State
University in 1968. In 1969, he was appointed President of the
Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the national society representing
all obstetricians and gynecologists in Canada. In 1972, he was
appointed as a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists in England. Up to that time, only six other Canadians
had been so honored. Upon his retirement, he was appointed as
a Professor Emeritus at McMaster. In his honour, the Department
of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McMaster created the F.L. Johnson
Trust Fund. That fund has grown to provide critical support for
research in the Department. Dr
JOHNSON's family have requested
that any donations in his memory be directed to that fund. It
is hoped that the Fund will grow to a size able to support a
McMaster University Chair in Women's Reproductive Health. In
1985 Dr Fred
JOHNSON was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws by McMaster
University in recognition of his many contributions and achievements.
President of McMaster University Alvin
LEE, in addition to identifying
his clinical and academic contributions and identifying him as
'a medical statesman in Obstetrics and Gynecology' indicated
that 'he has been a unique interpreter of both Hamilton and McMaster
through his sense of excellence, his unfailing decency and his
legendary humour and equanimity'. His wonderful family, many
Friends and patients will always remember his kind gentle personality
and his delightful dry sense if humour. Dr
JOHNSON was a unique
human being and leader who made critical contributions to the
building of clinical and academic strengths of the clinical department
at the Hamilton Civics, the creation of a new medical school
and a new medical centre, development of a new academic department
at McMaster, leadership of his discipline at a national level
and, at a personal level, support and development of strengths
and abilities in his students and his professional colleagues.
We celebrate his impact and his legacy.
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WEAVER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-02 published
WEAVER,
Clare
Thorne
Died on Monday, September 29th, 2003, at the South Muskoka Memorial
Hospital, Bracebridge, at the age of 64. Beloved daughter of
the late Harriet and Bill
WEAVER.
Much loved sister of Brink
(Margaret) and Stewart (Carol) of Toronto and Muskoka and Vicky
WEAVER (and the late Richard
BIRD) of Lake of Bays. Miss
WEAVER,
formerly of CosCob, Connecticut, enjoyed a happy year with David
and Jackie
GOODFELLOW of Gravenhurst where she received special
care. Fondly remembered by her five nieces and nephews and in
particular Harriet. Friends will be received at the Reynolds
Funeral Home ''Turner Chapel'' 1 Mary Street, Bracebridge (877)
806-2257 on Friday, October 3rd, 2003 from 1: 00 p.m. until time
of service in the Chapel at 2: 00 p.m. Burial in Mount Pleasant
Cemetery, Toronto, on Monday, October 6th, 2003 at 11: 00 a.m.
Memorial gifts to the South Muskoka Hospital Foundation, 75 Ann
Street, Bracebridge, Ontario P1L 2E4 would be appreciated by the
family.
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