CIARROCCHI o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-07-03 published
O'NEIL,
Doctor
Murray
Roy
On Saturday afternoon, June 30th, 2007, Essex County lost one
of its great sons.
Dr.
Murray
Roy
O'NEIL passed away suddenly and tragically doing
what he loved most, piloting his beloved Piper J-3 Cub near Colchester,
Ontario.
Born on May 12, 1927, and raised in Paquette Corners on the family
farm, Murray's love of the land never left him.
In the fall of 1945, he left home for London, Ontario, where
he studied pre- medicine and then medicine at the University
of Western Ontario, graduating in 1951. He returned home to practice
family medicine in the town of Essex. While he went on to specialize
in Allergy and Immunology and later build the largest private
Allergy and Respirology partnership of its kind in Ontario, the
principles of practicing good old-fashioned medicine -- of listening,
caring, being there for his patients at anytime of the day and
seeing them through no matter what -- always set his standard
of care. Doctor
O'NEIL was honoured by the medical community as
President of the Michigan Allergy Society (1981-1982), President
of the Essex County Medical Society (1985-1986) and in 1999 was
honoured with a Life Membership by the Ontario Medical Association.
He was a brilliant diagnostician and pioneered the areas of respirology
and sleep medicine in Windsor, however he will surely be most
fondly remembered as a simple and principled man with a genuine
love for his patients, who would arrive, doctor's bag in hand,
whenever needed.
In 1961 Doctor
O'NEIL embarked on his second career, founding Highline
Produce. After 45 years of strength and growth, Highline today
is one of the largest mushroom growing facilities in Canada,
employing close to 800 people at its Leamington, Ontario, Wellington,
Ontario and Montreal, Québec locations. Murray's countless feats
of engineering and his personally devised innovations made Highline
one of the most advanced and modern facilities in North America.
He was known internationally as a father of the industry, and
as in his first career, held many positions of leadership, including
Co-Chairing the first North American Mushroom Conference (1979)
with his dear friend, Charles
CIARROCCHI, serving as President
of the Canadian Mushroom Growers' Association (1976-1978), as
a member of the U.S. Mushroom Council (2003-2005) and being honoured
as a Life Member of the Canadian Mushroom Growers' Association
in 2002 for his then 41 years of service.
His final passion, the marvel of flight, is one which in his
own words was "something that's been a part of me for as long
as I can remember," beginning when he was given the gift of a
toy airplane at five years of age, and stayed with him throughout
his entire life. He first soloed a Tiger Moth in the summer of
1950 while stationed at Summerside, Prince Edward Island. His
quest for knowledge, his great curiosity, and his love for the
skies culminated in a commercial license by 1966.
He owned 18 different private aircraft during an aviation career
that spanned over five decades and accumulated over 8,500 hours.
Great moments of glory included competing in the Great London,
England to Victoria, British Columbia Air Race in 1971 as part
of a two-man crew in his Piper Twin Comanche (for which he received
a Windsor Flying Club Special Award), and flying his "hottest"
plane, a Mitsubishi MU-2 twin engine turbo prop on Highline business
throughout the 1990s.
He lovingly built a single-seater, open-cockpit Volksplane, the
"Cutie" which will forever hang suspended at the Windsor Airport
as part of a Heritage Collection. He also restored a beautiful
1946 Piper J-3 Cub, which he taught his children to fly and which
lived at his home until this Saturday's fateful accident.
For all of his many accomplishments, Murray
O'NEIL will be remembered
as a simple man from Essex County who loved his family and cherished
close Friends, who served his fellow man and touched so many
lives, and who lived life to its fullest with an abundance of
optimism and a deep gratitude for all his life's blessings.
He is predeceased by his wife
Judith
(FITCH)
O'NEIL, his son,
Andrew O'NEIL, and his sister, Marjorie
(O'NEIL)
WRIGHT. He is
survived by his brother, Ejay
O'NEIL and family, heartbroken
children Debra and John
GALLAUGHER,
David
O'NEIL, and Elizabeth
O'NEIL, grandchildren Brandon
GALLAUGHER and Regan, Lisa, Samantha
and Mallory
O'NEIL, mother-in-law Dorothy
FITCH, and numerous
nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held on Thursday, July 5th, 2007, at the
Walter Kelly Funeral Home (1969 Wyandotte Street East, Windsor),
from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A third visitation will be held the following
morning, Friday, July 6th, at Lakeshore St. Andrew's Church (231 Amy
Croft Drive, Tecumseh), from 11-12 p.m., with a funeral service
at Lakeshore St. Andrew's following at 12: 30 p.m.
The family has requested a private service and interment at St. Stephen's
Anglican Church, Oldcastle, following which Friends and family
are invited to celebrate Murray's life at a memorial celebration
at Hangar 401, Windsor Airport, from 4-6 p.m. on Friday, July 6th.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that you make
a donation to your charity of choice or to Ability Online, an
online support network for children and young adults with disabilities
and illnesses (www.abilityonline.org), which Murray believed
in and supported.
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