LIGAYA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-06-23 published
AFSHAR,
Farokh
(November 29, 1947-June 15, 2007)
Farokh passed away peacefully at home in Guelph, surrounded by
his family and loved ones, after a hard-fought battle with prostate
cancer. Farokh was the loving husband of Maribel
GONZALES, proud
father of Zhaleh
LIGAYA and Aaliyeh
AMIHAN, beloved brother of
Farideh AFSHAR (of Markham,) and Ferooz
AFSHAR (of New Zealand.)
His nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear Friends around the world
will miss him very much. Born in Calcutta of Iranian parents
he lived in four countries for roughly seven years each before
he making Canada his home. Farokh wanted to make a better world
both here in Canada and abroad. He worked in 15 countries for
international development organizations, Non-governmental Organizations
and national governments. A committed scholar and passionate
teacher, Farokh was a professor at the University of Guelph's
School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. Farokh
co-founded Development Workshop, an Non-governmental Organization
working to improve living conditions in less developed communities.
He was also a board member of the North-South Institute, the
Canadian Association for Studies in International Development,
and of the editorial board of the Canadian Journal of Development
Studies. He was a member of the Iranian-Canadian Community of
Guelph, the Canadian Institute of Planners, the Ontario Professional
Planners Institute, the Global Planning Educators Interest Group
of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. Farokh
served for eight years on Guelph's Round Table on Environment,
Economy, and Society.
A celebration of Farokh's life will be held on Thursday, June 28th
at 7 p.m. at the Ontario Agricultural College Centennial Arboretum
Centre at the University of Guelph.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Inter Pares (www.interpares.ca),
or Free The Children (www.freethechildren.com), would be most
appreciated by the family.
"We love you, Agajune!"
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LIGHTMAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-09-14 published
COHEN,
Leah
By Naomi LIGHTMAN,
Page
L10
Mother, friend, writer, political activist. Born on April 7,
1945, in Toronto. Died May 10 in Toronto of cancer, aged 62.
There was a part of Leah that fancied herself a spy or secret
agent, relentlessly pursuing social justice and opposing evil
wherever it might lurk. She even had clothes for the occasion.
In her 20s, armed with an M.A. in political science, Leah landed
a day job at International Business Machines Corporation where
her mission was to promote the introduction of barcode scanning
in supermarkets.
By night, Leah wrote subversive columns about women and work
for the Toronto Board of Trade, using the pseudonym Emma Peel,
the feminist spy from television's The Avengers.
In typical style, Leah blew her International Business Machines
Corporation earnings on a spiffy, white sports car. She sped
around town until my father, Ernie
LIGHTMAN, came along - he
couldn't quite fold his six-foot frame into the tiny vehicle.
When Leah quit her International Business Machines Corporation
job - actually she was "de-employed" - she decided to follow
her lifelong dream of writing.
She co-authored a book, The Secret Oppression, the first substantial
Canadian work on the sexual harassment of women in the workplace.
In 1984, Leah published her second book, Small Expectations:
Society's Betrayal of Older Women. At her death, she was working
on a play about the lives of people on welfare.
Leah's trademark in research was her use of in-depth case studies.
She had an amazing ability to establish rapport with people from
all walks of life.
Her contact with her birth family was minimal, but this was more
than offset by her deep Friendships - her "family of choice,"
as she called them.
Leah firmly believed in the importance of intergenerational relationships,
and was equally close to her teenaged goddaughters as to her
nearly 90-year-old proxy parents.
Clearly,
Leah's grandparents, Chana and Fishel
GLICKSMAN, were
her greatest influence; undoubtedly, my father was Leah's closest
friend. My parents first met at age 7, at Hebrew school. But
Leah's family moved and it wasn't until 25 years later that they
reunited at a Halloween party. Their connection was instantaneous.
They travelled the world, supported one another unconditionally,
and shared every intimacy.
For her last 22 years, Leah carried with her the baggage of cancer.
She told very few people about her illnesses, as she never wanted
to be seen as a victim.
One of my strongest memories of my mother is when she decided
we would travel to Ottawa to participate in International Women's
Day.
We painted big signs and upset everybody when we carried them
on the train. We marched on Parliament Hill, hand in hand.
My mother left us all enriched by her passion and bettered by
her principles.
Naomi LIGHTMAN is Leah's daughter.
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