The Root - Spring 2013 by University of Toronto Schools

Root

The

The UTS ALUMNI MAGAZINE • Spring 2013

Making a Difference UTS alumni – including Charles Catto ’46, David Morley ’73, and Layusa Isa-Odidi ’05 – are working to make this world a better place. Bob Lord ’58 retires; Jim Fleck ’49 appointed new Chair. Alumni News • Crawford and Hall of Fame Awards • Annual Alumni dinner

Mark Your Calendars Thursday, May 9, 2013

UTSAA

Board of Directors President

Ottawa Branch Event

John B.A. Wilkinson ’78 John.Wilkinson@utschools.ca

5:30 p.m. RSVP at www.utschools.ca/rsvp or 416-978-3919

Vice President

Mark Opashinov ’88

Art and Music Nights

Mark.Opashinov@utschools.ca

Friday, April 26, 2013

Past President

5:30 p.m.: Annual Art Exhibition and Opening Reception 6:30 p.m.: Junior Music Night

Peter.Neilson@utschools.ca

Peter Neilson ’71

Treasurer

Friday, May 3, 2013

Bob Cumming ’65

5:30 p.m.: Annual Art Exhibition and Closing Reception 6:30 p.m.: Senior Music Night 9:30 p.m.: Senior Café Bleu For more information, contact Judy Kay (music) at jkay@utschools.ca or 416-978-6802 or Charlie Pullen (art) Charlie.Pullen@utschools.ca

Robert.Cumming@utschools.ca

Secretary

Nina Coutinho ’04 Nina.Coutinho@utschools.ca

Honorary President Rosemary Evans

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

REvans@utschools.ca

UTSAA Annual General Meeting

Honorary Vice-President

6:00 p.m. in the UTS Library Contact: alumni@utschools.ca

Heather Henricks

HHenricks@utschools.ca

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Directors

UTSAA Golf Tournament

Don Ainslie ’84

Join us at St. Andrew’s Valley for our 18th Annual Tournament. Tee-offs from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. RSVP at www. utschools.ca/rsvp or call 416-978-3919 for more information.

Sharon Au ’08 Sharon.Au@utschools.ca

Jonathan Bitidis ’99

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Annual Alumni Dinner and Awards

Donald.Ainslie@utschools.ca

Jonathan.Bitidis@utschools.ca

Registration

Anniversary Year Celebrations 1933, 1938, 1943, now open! 1948, 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 All years are welcome! Special celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Co-Education at UTS! UTS Hall of Fame Inductees will be honoured. The fifth H.J. Crawford Award will be presented and the recipient honoured. Guests will also have an opportunity to visit the UTS Open House during the day. More information TBA. Location: Marriott Yorkville 5:30 p.m.: Reception, 6:30 p.m.: Awards Ceremony and Dinner Registration now open: www.utschools.ca/rsvp, or email alumni@utschools.ca, or call 416-978-3919. Visit the website regularly for updates: www.utschools.ca/alumni or call 416-978-3919

Jonathan Bright ’04 Jonathan.Bright@utschools.ca

Aaron Chan ’94 Aaron.Chan@utschools.ca

George V. Crawford ’72 George.Crawford@utschools.ca

Aaron Dantowitz ’91 Aaron.Dantowitz@utschools.ca

Robert Duncan ’95 Robert.Duncan@utschools.ca

Peter Frost ’63 Peter.Frost@utschools.ca

Penny Harbin ’78 Penny.Harbin@utschools.ca

Oliver Jerschow ’92 Oliver.Jerschow@utschools.ca

Jennifer Suess ’94 Jennifer.Suess@utschools.ca

Philip Weiner ’01 Philip.Weiner@utschools.ca

Contents Mark Your Calendars

Bits & Pieces

President’s Report

Principal’s Report

UTS Board Report

Advancement Report

Crawford Award and Hall of Fame 21 Annual Alumni Dinner

Victor Yeung

Making a Difference Many UTS alumni are working with Not-for-Profit and Non-Governmental Organizations on local, national, and global stages to make this world a better place. Here are a few of their stories – including interviews with Charles Catto ’46, David Morley ’73, and Layusa Isa-Odidi ’05. . . . . . . . . 12

Alumni News All the latest in the lives of your classmates, including In Memoriam and tributes to the lives of five distinguished alumni.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Above: Reception entertainment at the Annual Alumni Dinner was provided by the UTS Jazz Trio: musicians Thomas Broadley, Trevor Clokie, and Alexander Levy with vocalist Lucinda Qu (all Class of 2013). On the cover: Charles Catto ’46 and David Morley ’73; photograph: Jamie Day Fleck. (Inset: Layusa Isa-Odidi ’05) Our thanks to this issue’s contributors: Derek Bate ’44, Don Borthwick ’54, Ted Cross ’43, Nina Coutinho ’04, Martha Drake, Rosemary Evans, Christopher Federico ’91, Jim Fleck ’49, Meg O’Mahony, Charlie Pullen, Jane Rimmer, Diana Shepherd ’80, John Wilkinson ’78, and Carole Zamroutian. Special thanks to our new proofreader: retired UTS principal Don Gutteridge Looking Back background: © iStockphoto.com/Peter Zelei Editor: Diana Shepherd ’80

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371 Bloor Street West, Room 121, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2R7 Phone: 416-978-3919 Fax: 416-971-2354 E-mail: alumni@utschools.ca Web: www.utschools.ca/alumni Published spring and fall, The Root is available to all alumni, parents and friends of UTS. Contact us at the above addresses to receive a copy or to change your address. The issue is also available at: www.utschools.ca/root

Bits & Pieces A Compendium of Noteworthy UTS Tidbits

Bob Lord Steps Down after 14 Years Words cannot do justice to the contributions that Bob Lord ’58 has made to UTS: he exemplifies the values of the school through his commitment to scholarship, athletics, volunteerism, respect, and leadership. As Chair of the Development Steering Committee (1999); Vice-Chair, Building Opportunities Campaign (2000/2001); Chair, Interim UTS Board (2001-2004); and Chair, UTS Board of Directors (200413), Bob’s contributions have been truly outstanding. He will be remembered for successfully leading UTS through the intricate and challenging transition

from a department within OISE to an affiliate of the University of Toronto and an independent legal entity. Throughout his tenure, Bob has provided remarkable stewardship as UTS achieved a governance structure, financial independence, a strategic plan, and the resultant stability to solidify our future. Bob often harkens back to the office visit Don Borthwick ’54 and retired principal, Stan Pearl, made in 1999 to request his acceptance of the Development Committee Chair – a time when UTS was attempting to migrate from its “Preserving the Opportunity” bursary campaign success to an ongoing Development/Advancement operation.

Bob Lord, with his wife Patricia, and granddaughter Zoë at UTS this winter, in front of a display chronicling Bob’s accomplishments. 4

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“Bob never forgets to remind Stan and me of this time,” says Don. “Little did any one of us know the journey ahead, but we certainly made the right choice.” As a UTS student, Bob played both football and hockey; during his early years, he could always be counted on to be in the stands for the hockey “Firsts” games. His classmates remember him for his sense of humour, and in particular his hilarious imitations. Upon graduation from UTS, he received the second George and Elizabeth Rutherford Scholarship at Victoria College. Through his years of volunteer involvement at the school, Bob was able to establish positive relationships with alumni, parents, students, staff, and friends of the school. Don noted that one of Bob’s great strengths was his ability to coalesce many diverging opinions and move the issue ahead to a satisfactory conclusion. He has spent countless hours as a UTS advocate and advisor, and this passion for UTS has influenced many others to support the school. Bob has earned much success and respect in his professional life: as a Chartered Accountant who served as the Vice-Chair of Ernst & Young, as the Chair of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada, and as a Director of the YMCA of Greater Toronto. Bob also served on the boards of several public and private corporations and has participated in many advancement efforts for the University of Toronto and his alma mater, Victoria University. In all spheres, Bob is recognized and appreciated as an advisor and for his socially responsible global citizenship – the core of the UTS vision today. These attributes were recognized in 2010 when he was the second recipient of the Henry Job Crawford award. n

Victor Yeung

Paul Moore with Principal Rosemary Evans and UTS teacher (and veteran) Christopher Federico ’91.

Coming Face-to-Face with the Past Memory, we know, is an extremely personal thing. So in some respects it is a bit peculiar to put 700 students, teachers, and alumni all together in one room every Remembrance Day and ask them to collectively remember something that happened to other people long ago and far away. Of course 90 years ago, when Canadians first began observing Remembrance Day, it was very different. The Great War loomed large in everyone’s memory, and those who gathered did so to acknowledge and reflect upon a deeply personal yet shared experience. To ensure this experience was never forgotten, they built us a time machine of sorts. Once the state of the art in time travel, this machine may seem a bit of a jalopy now, cobbled together as it is out of bronze plaques and bugle music and snippets of poetry. Although it still puts out a lot of power, we may need to tinker a little with the mechanics if it is to get

the 21st-century traveller to his or her intended destination. That’s a problem, of course, because much as we might wish to partition off the unpleasant events of the past, we know that outside of school one can’t just drop history if one doesn’t like the results. So to remember thoughtfully, we must do a better job of unravelling that ball of “wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff” [Ed. quoted from the long-running British TV series, Doctor Who] we call history. What if, for example, instead of merely filing past those bronze plaques, we could stop and have a conversation with just one of those veterans? Over the years, we have tried to do just that by including the voice of a UTS veteran in our program. In 2012, we were privileged to have John McIntyre ’37 in attendance. He shared with us his personal recollections of WW2 via a prerecorded video interview, reminding us that the conflicts we know only through books and films were very real to our predecessors at UTS.

At the ceremony, UTS recognized one of our most experienced timetravellers – one who has shared his journeys with the school for nearly 25 years and who, despite having officially retired long ago, remains dedicated to illuminating UTS history. Thanks to the leadership and inspiration provided by Dr. Paul Moore, the online Commemoration Project allows us to come face-to-face with the UTS veterans of WW1 – and we shall soon be able to do the same for our veterans of WW2. (To see the Commemoration Project go to www.utschools.ca and select the “WW1” button.) As the global wars of the past recede further from our personal memory, it will demand a greater effort each year to ensure that the ceremony remains meaningful to new generations of faculty, staff, students, and alumni; UTS is extremely grateful to all those to work each year to continue to make it so. n – Christopher Federico ’91, UTS teacher THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

UN COP 18 From Here to Qatar (and Virtually Everywhere Else) In November, ten M4-S6 (Grades 9-12) students participated in the UN Climate Change Conference: COP18 Under18 National Virtual Conferencing and Summit. The UTS team was selected as one of only six school teams from across Canada (NW Territories, Quebec, BC, Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba) along with schools in India and Thailand. The project, masterminded by Terry Godwaldt, the Director of Programming at the Alberta Virtual Classroom Centre for Global Education, made brilliant use of technology. Participants were able to interact and dialogue with each other via video-conferencing and Skype conversations, as well as discussion blogs. The debate addressed the moral role of developed nations in supporting developing nations while also decreasing their own carbon footprints. The students spent six weeks preparing intensively for the program, which included a Virtual Town Hall convened across Canada on November 14. For UTS, the day began with a workshop facilitated by Azra Shivji ’08, who is currently studying for a Masters in Global Health at McMaster. Azra – who attended COP13 in Bali, Indonesia, courtesy of the British Council – shared insights on the political and social processes of UN meetings. The day also included virtual keynote speeches from Canadian Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell and Dr. Eric Newell, Chancellor of the University of Alberta. This full-day national video-conference summit allowed these students to collaborate in the writing of a White Paper on Climate Change on behalf of the youth of Canada. The paper was later presented to Senator Mitchell and then taken to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar by a youth delegation that presented it on behalf of the youth of Canada. n – Meg O’Mahony, UTS teacher Students in the UTS library participating in the COP-18 video-conference. 6

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

Interdisciplinary Arts Day Jim McGrath is a musician who draws on his understanding of film, psychology, and storytelling in his work as a film composer. Elysha Poirier is a visual artist whose work is created live in a performance choreographed in collaboration with dancers and musicians. In order to help UTS students develop into the life-long “learners, communicators [and] creative artists” that the UTS Mission Statement celebrates, they need to have an authentic understanding of how contemporary artists, like McGrath and Poirier, create their work – and how many contemporary artists seek productive connections with a variety of disciplines. With this goal in mind, this year the Expressive Arts Department launched A3+ Day: “All Three” UTS arts disciplines (music, drama, and visual arts) “Plus” connections beyond. Schools typically “silo” the arts: a focus that allows for more time to develop discipline-specific skills. However, by compartmentalizing, schools risk fragmenting vision and curtailing creativity. A3+ Day sought to explore the following question: “What creative potential exists in the often-overlooked spaces between the boundaries of artistic disciplines?” The day focused on a series of performances and presentations from a slate of contemporary artists who seek out these overlooked spaces for inspiration and innovation. Along with McGrath and Poirier, students met with: dancer/choreographer Andrea Nann, who is the Artistic Director of Dreamwalker Dance; lighting designer David Duclos; dancer Brendan Wyatt; short-filmmaker Randall Okita; and interactive installation artists Thom Sokoloski and Jenny-Anne McCowan. F2 (Grade 8) students were selected to participate since they are uniquely situated to take advantage of this experience in preparation for the relatively wide-ranging arts choices the Ontario curriculum allows them in Grades 9 and 10. So, while an F2 student

might consider herself to be a cellist, an actor, or a photographer, A3+ Day sought to encourage how experiences with any art form can serve as a starting

place for growth – growth into the other arts and perhaps beyond, into other academic and personal interests. n – Charlie Pullen, UTS teacher

Top: F2 students investigating sculptural shapes in a movement class during A3+ Day. Below: Dancers Andrea Nann and Brendan Wyatt perform on the UTS stage. THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

President’s Report

Spring into Action! Spring represents renewal: a time to launch into a new phase, into new opportunities. At UTS, spring is an exciting time as teachers and students realize all they have accomplished to date during the school year – and build on their experiences and successes as they enter the “home stretch”. For your Alumni Association, spring 2013 is a time to build on our rejuvenated base so as to serve you and our alma mater with even more vigour and ideas than ever. Here are some examples:

John Wilkinson, ’78 President, UTSAA

• UTSAA is reaching out. Through meetings, presentations, and (coming soon) surveys, we’re reaching out to UTS stakeholders (alumni, current students, faculty, parents, the UTS Board, and the UTS Foundation) so that we understand their mandates and priorities – and so that we can continue to maintain the Association and to innovate in a manner that is responsive to all those groups. • UTSAA is organizing. From the introduction of a novel way to distribute funds from the H. Donald Borthwick Student Fund; to organizing traditional events (the basketball tournament, the Alumni hockey game, and the golf tournament to name the more athletic endeavours); to brainstorming new events to cater to the changing Alumni profile.

Spring 2013 is a time to build on our rejuvenated base so as to serve you and our alma mater with even more vigour and ideas than ever. • UTSAA is welcoming. There are numerous committees on which you can participate and many events in which you can participate. Why not think up a new Alumni activity for UTSAA’s

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

consideration? You’ll get so much more out of your involvement than you could imagine. But how do you get involved? There are many ways that you can connect with your UTSAA and UTS itself, including: • Arrange a visit to the school. Our energetic and engaging Principal Rosemary Evans and her staff will welcome you with tales of the latest student-led success or faculty-inspired initiative. • Place a call to the UTS Office of Advancement (416-946-0097). Our enthusiastic and efficient Executive Director Martha Drake will explain all that the UTSAA can do for you and all that you can do for the School! • Surf the UTSAA’s section of the UTS website (www.utschools.ca/alumni) where you can peruse recent events and upcoming opportunities, honour your favourite alumni by nominating them as Notable Alumni, or finally get your friends together to play some ball by renting gym space. Please check out the site and see all it has to offer! • Organize an event to reconnect with classmates. The Office of Advancement will help! There is no need to wait for a special year – just use the phone, email or social media and make it happen. For example, recently dozens of local alumni from a ’70s class gathered at a Toronto home for no reason other than to reconnect – and from all accounts, the informal event was a great success. From attending a UTSAA event; to volunteering and making a School event even better; to arranging a get-together for a few friends, a school team, or a whole class – I encourage you to spring into action so that you are part of UTS’ future by connecting again with the present version of your past. Carpe diem! n

Principal’s Report

Equity and Diversity UTS students learn to appreciate and respect multiple perspectives. This issue of The Root focuses on alumni who have made a significant difference to others through their commitment to equity and social justice. At UTS, our students consistently impress me with their dedication to righting wrongs. It is impossible to capture the full extent of that commitment, but a story about one student will perhaps prove illustrative of the thoughtfulness, empathy, and creativity evident in so many of our students. Last summer, one of our F1 (Grade 7) students invited me to a lemonade stand he and his brother had set up to raise funds for War Child, a Canadian NGO. Kieran and Alastair also made bookmarks, T-shirts, and fridge magnets; over three days, they raised $3,021. In September, the boys were presented with War Child’s Fundraiser of the Year Award. In speaking to Kieran, it was clear to me that he was motivated by his commitment to improving the lot of children whose lives have been devastated by war. Social responsibility as exemplified by Kieran is articulated in the UTS Vision statement. Furthermore, our Strategic Plan states that: “UTS recognizes its responsibility to students, employees and families to sustain the primacy of equity, diversity and social justice”. It is important to recognize the responsibilities that accompany this direction, which guides a number of initiatives at the school. Our school welcomes – in fact actively recruits – a diverse student body, representing a wide range of cultural, racial, linguistic, and faith traditions, along with a variety of personal interests and passions. The result is a rich community where students learn to respect multiple perspectives, to question their assumptions, test their values, and appreciate others. Our students are admitted on the basis of merit, and the school continues to strive to provide needs-based funding to those who gain admittance and qualify for financial support. To complement these efforts, we are

implementing a supplementary bursary program to provide these students with additional funds to ensure that they can participate fully in our curricular and co-curricular program. We believe this will result in equity of access to the full UTS experience. We are building on our current Equity Framework to develop an Equity Policy. We are providing professional learning to all staff to enhance their skills and understanding in this complex domain; and special training and support to students to allow them both to recognize inequities that limit access and to build an inclusive school community. In addition, we are examining our curriculum to ensure that all students can see themselves in our program – including their unique personal attributes related to such characteristics as ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and class. We also want to ensure that multiple view-points and opportunities for critical and creative thinking are actively included in the UTS classroom.

Rosemary Evans Principal, UTS

Our school welcomes – in fact actively recruits – a diverse student body. A commitment to diversity and equity often results in a drive to take action to enhance social justice. Like Kieran, many UTS students and staff extend their learning beyond the classroom – becoming advocates for change and working in partnership with others to make a difference. This year has seen many such initiatives related to climate change, transit reform, homelessness, and food scarcity to name only a few. A quick review of our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/utschools), or the “News and Events“ pages on our website (www.utschools. ca), provides many examples of the vibrancy and richness of the UTS experience and, in particular, the commitment to equity and social justice. n THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

UTS Board Report

Leadership and Accessibility Jamie Day Fleck

The Board intends to support UTS in its role as an exemplary school in the province.

Jim Fleck ’49 Board Chair, UTS

This article represents my first opportunity as Chair of the UTS Board of Directors to outline the current priorities facing the Board. These initiatives are all aimed at securing the future of the school to ensure that UTS can continue to nurture academically able students to flourish and to make significant contributions on the local, national, and global stages. When I attended UTS in the late 1940s, tuition was $50 per year. Funded by the Ontario Government, UTS acted as a model school within the Ontario College of Education. Generally speaking, the cost of tuition was not an issue for most students; the major factors limiting access were knowledge of the school and the local transportation system. Like many of today’s students, I commuted, travelling almost three hours daily to and from my home in Oshawa; within reason, distance and travel time do not create insurmountable barriers to attendance. The board intends to support UTS in its role as an exemplary school in the province – if not beyond – and to help make the school more accessible. These two goals are of course complicated by the challenges of securing a site for the future. Our new Access Committee is investigating ways to increase admission of students from across the socio-economic spectrum – exploring avenues that will supplement the bursary funds.

UTS Board of Directors Chair: Jim Fleck ’49 Vice Chair: John Duffy ’81, Parent Secretary: F. David Rounthwaite ’65 Treasurer: Andrew Dalglish, Parent Directors: David Allan ’78 Jim Gracie, Parent Andre Hidi ’77

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

Michelle Hull, Parent Prabhat Jha, Parent Peter Neilson ‘71 Nasir Noormohamed, Parent Susan Opler ’79, Parent Donald Schmitt ’70 www.utschools.ca/discoveruts/ utsboard

Access is critical to differentiating UTS from other private schools and, more importantly, to shaping the UTS students of the future. Appreciation of diversity – and the reality of living and learning within a diverse community that challenges privilege – must continue to shape the school. The board is also working to expand UTS’ leadership role as an institute with a long tradition as a model school. UTS has an unparalleled reputation for assisting students to make a successful transition to university, and in many cases to enter university with advanced standing. Furthermore, UTS has several partnerships with university faculties and divisions to develop and deliver joint innovative programs. These include the Global Ideas Institute offered in partnership with the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs; the i-Think Program with the Rotman School of Management; Maximum City with the Daniels School of Architecture; and a number of other initiatives with OISE – including a project with Professor Jim Slotta, Canada Research Chair, who is focussing on technologically enriched environments for the teaching of inquirybased science. Today’s students need to develop the mindset to become innovators, and UTS is a school with demonstrated success in this area. Finally, our relationship with UofT and the securing of a new site continue to be priorities for the Board. Our Site Search Committee has developed a short-list of approximately eight sites that we are currently investigating. We are in monthly contact with UofT, and we are pleased to report that University leadership has articulated that they are open to working with us to help UTS secure a new home. In my short tenure on the board, I have been extremely impressed by the dedication of all board members. Despite being volunteers with busy lives, our members devote many hours to UTS, and I am honoured to be working with such an accomplished and committed team. n

Advancement Report

A Special Community Ensure that future generations of students will be able to access this special school. “UTS is a special place and a special community. One of the reasons for this is because of its traditions, which are upheld by its donors including alumni and their families. Donations for scholarships and awards provide important support for future generations of UTS students by recognizing and rewarding those students who excel.” These words were spoken by Ilana Tavshunsky ’12 to the UTSAA Board of Directors as part of a speech to express appreciation on behalf of her class to the UTSAA directors for their support of the graduating class. Ilana’s words inspired me because they ring true. They capture evidence of support that I have encountered this year and for that reason, I wanted to share her message with you. In 2007, UTS received notice of a bequest from the estate of Olwen Owen Walker. It took a bit of research to figure out the connection to UTS and the reason for this gift, which came from out of the blue. Long before “planned giving” was a topic to be studied in college or bandied about on charity websites, James Walker ’24 made his planned gift to UTS in the form of a charitable bequest, to be dispersed upon the death of his wife, Olwen. James passed away in 1995, Olwen in 2007. The final disbursement was received this year and has provided almost $500,000 to UTS

for bursary support. This gift was decades in the making and is a beautiful example of the tradition of support addressed by Ilana. Another example of generosity has come from our parent community. The new joint fundraising venture between the UTS Parents’ Association (UTSPA) and the school has provided immediate benefits to the school in many ways. I wish to express my appreciation to the association for taking a leap of faith in redesigning the UTSPA Annual Campaign. This year, parents have the opportunity to support UTS both through UTSPA and also directly through the school. The response from parents has been tremendous and consequently, more UTS students are being supported this year through the removal of financial barriers that would otherwise exist. Thank you! My final tale is about the support that alumni have provided though their leadership at the school. The Branching Out mentoring program has grown from 24 alumni-student partnerships to 36. In addition, alumni have returned to the school to speak on panel discussions, in career classes, and have provided insight that is shaping our plans for the future. Ilana is right: UTS is a special place and a special community. And it will remain that way because of you. n

Martha Drake Executive Director, Advancement

Make a difference today for tomorrow’s students... If you would like to designate a specific bequest to UTS or receive information on planned giving, please contact: Martha Drake, Executive Director, Advancement at 416-946-0097, or mdrake@utschools.ca.

...and leave your mark on UTS’ future! THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Charles Catto ’46, Layusa Isa-Odidi ’05, David Morley ’73 Above: portraits of Charles Catto and David Morley by Jamie Day Fleck. Globe image: @ iStockphoto.com/Jan Rysavy

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

hat inspires people to work or volunteer at a Not-for-Profit or Non-Governmental Organization? Many of these jobs require extraordinary dedication and a passionate belief that the organization’s work is vitally necessary. Whether that work is raising funds to ensure (or create) access to food, education, healthcare, housing, or the Arts, the alumni featured in this article are all connected by their belief in and commitment to that work. We have chosen to highlight three generations representing a long tradition of UTS alumni’s commitment to public service: Charles Catto ’46, David Morley ’73, and Layusa Isa-Odidi ’05. (Make sure to keep reading after the interviews for more inspiring stories about alumni working in this sector!) “Not all of us can do great things,” said Mother Teresa. “But we can do small things with great love… Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.” Read on to discover how some of your fellow alumni are turning their love into action and making this world a better place for us all.

Standing Tree to Standing Home Reverend Dr. Charles Catto ’46 is the founder

of Frontiers Foundation, the oldest registered indigenous charitable organization in Canada. Since 1964, their “Operation Beaver” program has built or renovated 2,600 homes, 32 community centres, four schools, and three parks using 4,000 volunteers from more than 70 nations. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1979 for his work with Operation Beaver, work he continues to do to this day.

What was the path that led you to found Operation Beaver (later incorporated as the Frontiers Foundation)? After eight years at UofT, I became an ordained United Church of Canada Reverend in 1954. I ministered with Cree First Nation from ’54 to ’57, then with the Bemba in Zambia from ’57 to ’62. While in Zambia, my wife Barbara and I developed non-racial and nondenominational YWCA and YMCA programming. After returning to Canada in ’62, we started work on our first building project: an Anglican church in Split Lake, Manitoba. In 1968, I became the full‑time executive director of Operation Beaver. I felt led into this special Ministry, with the blessing of the United Church at all levels.

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What does “Standing Tree to Standing Home” mean? In Batchawana Bay, which is about 25 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie, there’s a settlement that’s divided into two sections, Status Ojibways on the reserve and off-reserve Ojibways and Métis. Neither group was blessed with satisfactory housing, but the off-reserve was truly deplorable. We were aware of the problems, but we were never flush with money. John Evans ’46 was Chairman of TorStar at the time, and I casually mentioned to him that it was a shame that all the bad news gets all the media coverage rather than good news – like the work Operation Beaver was doing. A few days later, the Toronto Star sent a reporter up to Batchawana Bay and we got a full page of coverage with pictures. The day the article appeared, a Toronto lawyer called to pledge $100,000 from the legal eagles of Toronto. He really delivered: over the years, he raised more than $200,000, with the last chunk coming from the Advocates Society of Ontario. Then Olaf Bjornaa, a Métis living off-reserve, said: “You have portable sawmills, and we have spruce and pine.

On February 1, Governor General David Johnston presented Charles Catto ’46 with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Medal for “Kitcisakik” (Quebec Algonquin Project).

Lend us your sawmills and we’ll harvest the trees and make the lumber for the buildings.” Over 15 years we completed 46 homes – some brand-new, some serious renovations – using local resources: “Standing Tree to Standing Home”. If Mr. Harper and Mr. McKay would just give us part of the $200,000,000 they’re spending on one F-35, we could solve the whole Native housing crisis!

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Your organization is sometimes compared with Habitat for Humanity… We started long before Habitat for Humanity, which brings masses of volunteers in for a week and completes a project. We have a much smaller number of volunteers, who stay for six months to a year to complete a project. Our main program is still called “Operation Beaver”. The beaver is our national animal, and in many ways it symbolizes the activity we’re involved in: beavers work together to gather their food and build their homes. They’re good little critters: they mate for life and they don’t fight unless they’re extremely provoked. It’s not just house-building: we also have education programs with volunteer teachers in the Arctic. For 20 years now we’ve had splendid young people go up there and rescue kids who would otherwise end up as welfare statistics. Some families are nomadic, and the kids don’t manage to stay in the regular school system; our volunteers have helped these kids catch up with their Three Rs.

The beaver is our national animal, and in many ways it symbolizes the activity we’re involved in: beavers work together to gather their food and build their homes.

THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

DS CC

I hear you’re an honorary chief of the Wasauksing Ojibwa First Nation. Yes: their name for me is “Chief Busy Beaver”! We had a project with Parry Island in 1965; later, we helped them build a community centre, and many of the Parry Islanders volunteered to work on Frontier projects across Canada. So there was a strong connection for many years.

Of the many projects you’ve worked on over the years, which stand out as your proudest accomplishments? The 2,600 safe, warm, new or renovated homes for First Canadians, and the full range of development projects in Haiti, including school and road construction, immunization of 115,000, original electrification of St. Michel de L’Attalaye, reforestation, and agricultural advancement. I’m also proud that there’s an impressive number of First Canadian and Third World partners getting power and recognition at last.

Finding Hope Instead The president and CEO of UNICEF Canada, David Morley ’73 has been working in humanitarian and community development projects around the world for more than three decades. From a small NGO in Costa Rica to Médecins Sans Frontières Canada to Save the Children Canada, David is passionately committed to supporting people who battle and overcome incredible odds to improve their lives. any of your experiences at UTS help DS Did to set you on your career path? really loved the school: it gave us a DM Ihome and a community. People are very lucky to be there. UTS instilled a sense of confidence that we could make our own paths and be OK. I chose what was at the time an unorthodox career – there weren’t many people who went overseas to volunteer, and the term “NGO” hadn’t been coined yet. At the time, I thought: “This is what I want to do. Trust yourself

David Morley visits a child-friendly space run by UNICEF in the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, in the fall 2011. Due to its proximity to the Somali border, the camp took in many children fleeing the famine in Somalia. 14

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and follow your passion.” We know inside what we want to do – just listen to your heart and follow it.

Your experience in international cooperation began when you volunteered with street children in Central America in the 1970s. Can you tell us about this – and how it affected your career path? After graduating from Carleton, I decided to take a year off before starting a Masters in Medieval History at UofT. I heard of this organization called “Pueblito” – founded by a former UTS student and teacher, Peter Taçon ’54 – in Costa Rica. I was going to go for three months, but I totally fell in love with the kids. That three months turned into two years, then I ended up working for Pueblito in Toronto. In all, I spent about 20 years with Pueblito. One of the things that astounded me was that the kids had not lost the capacity to make friends and to care. And that profoundly changed me. I just wanted to be able to help those children, and then do work that would mean that other children could be helped or that they would never be abandoned and have to live on the streets. I could happily have stayed in Latin America, but I would always be a foreigner there. I thought I could make more of a difference in Canada, where I’m speaking to and raising money from other Canadians, and where I’m trying to effect policy change through the Canadian government as opposed to being a foreigner or outsider. Pueblito did great programs in El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Brazil. In Brazil, the women had started daycare centres where five mothers would get together, four would work while one would look after all their children, then they’d pool their money. This grew from three little daycare centres into more than 100 – and today, they all get subsidies from the municipal government. In 1998, I became executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières Canada. After I had been there for a couple of years, we won the Nobel Prize; I felt like a hockey player who’s been traded to a team right at the trade deadline and then you win the Stanley Cup! At MSF, I learned so much about the role of the outsider, and what an outsider could do during conflict. All the places I went to in Africa were refugee camps or civil-war zones. [Ed. See David’s most recent book, Healing Our World: Inside Doctors without Borders (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006) for more about MSF.] I learned that military tactics overcome everything else, and to distrust

rhetoric profoundly. In the end, I decided that what I really loved was the community development – as opposed to patching up so that later community development can take place. In 2005, I left MSF to help to start the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, which was Adrienne Clarkson’s and John Ralston Saul’s legacy gift after they left Rideau Hall. They were wonderful people to work with, but I missed international work, so I went to run Save the Children Canada then ended up here [UNICEF Canada] in 2011. At UNICEF, we do both humanitarian relief as well as community development.

What gives you the courage/belief/ inspiration to continue to work in an area so much of Western society says is hopeless? Many people ask me that question – isn’t it depressing to do your work? Not at all. Not being able to do anything is depressing. But I get to work alongside or in support of people who battle and overcome incredible odds to improve their lives. And that is inspiring and life-affirming, because so often where you might expect to find despair, you find hope instead. What could be better than that?

I get to work alongside or in support of people who battle and overcome incredible odds to improve their lives. And that is inspiring and life‑affirming, because so often where you might expect to find despair, you find hope instead.

Balancing the Scales Born in in Kano, Nigeria, Layusa Isa-Odidi ’05 lived in England, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia before moving to Canada with her family. As a dual Nigerian-Canadian citizen, she has been moving between the developed and developing worlds her entire life. She is passionate about social justice – believing that every human has an equal right to the opportunities available in developed nations.

You’ve said that your interest in development “stems from my belief that it is an opportunity that should be afforded to every human being.” Can you elaborate? Although I didn’t grow up in Nigeria, I went back there every year, so I was getting constant exposure to the way different halves of the world were living. It was hard to see friends and relatives having a much more difficult time in terms of access to [basic necessities] such as healthcare and education. It got me thinking about why any one person deserves one way of life, and I wanted to see Nigerians having similar opportunities to the ones I had in Canada. At

THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

Layusa Isa-Odidi delivers portable desks to a primary school on the rural outskirts of Johannesburg.

I just knew that there was this vast part of the human population I wanted to help.

UTS, I was head of the Social Issues Council and co-president of Amnesty International War Child Canada Club, so I was becoming more and more aware of the world’s inequities. During my undergrad [at Harvard], every summer I did an internship at a different non-profit. The first summer, I worked with TakingITGlobal, which had been asked to lead the Youth Pavilion at the International AIDS conference in Toronto that year. I spent the next summer with the Canadian International Council, a foreign-policy thinktank; and then the final summer was with Human Rights First, a legal advocacy group in New York working on crimes against humanity. I didn’t have a particular focus: I just knew that there was this vast part of the human population I wanted to help. For me, it’s always been about where I will be able to have the greatest impact, given my skills, knowledge, and the chances given to me.

You’re currently pursuing a joint Masters of Public Administration in International Development [MPA/ID] and Masters of Business Administration at the Harvard Kennedy and Business Schools.Why did you choose these areas? I was frustrated by the complete separation between the private and public sectors: neither of these sectors should be completely

LI 16

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removed from the solving of society’s problems. I was interested in how to leverage the private sector to create public and social value. The International Development program at the Kennedy School revolutionized the way I thought about development. More and more, I’m starting to wonder what I can do through the public sector to develop the growth of the private sector, working through NGOs to support small entrepreneurs in starting businesses that will provide jobs and products for people in the lowest income brackets. Last summer, I interned with Open Capital, a financial services and consulting firm based in Nairobi. I was working directly with entrepreneurs on their business ideas and helping them get access to capital. These people had great ideas, but that’s often not enough to translate the idea into a business someone will fund. you see your future in NGOs and DS Do Non-Profits? I’ve decided to stay in the NFP/NGO for LI the time being because I feel that there are some services necessary for development that the private sector has no incentive to provide. However, I see the value in both sectors and have and will likely continue to switch back and forth throughout my career. I want to make sure that the end value benefits the public sector. That can

be done through so many different channels, so it’s limiting not only to yourself but also to your cause to say you’re only going to work with one particular sector.

DS What’s next for you? laying the groundwork to be working LI I’m in Nigeria after school. Nigeria is a very frustrating place to work: you can come with all sorts of skills, experience, and connections and still get nothing done. If Nigeria proves impossible, I’ll look for another African country where my work might be received better. give one piece of advice to DS IftheyouUTScould Class of 2013, what would it be? the time to think about what you LI Take want to do versus what it is that everyone around you is doing. Suddenly, all the creativity and individuality you expressed during your years of education boil down to the four things that everyone is trying to do right now versus sitting and thinking about what you really want to do.

More Inspirational Stories Dr. Norman Burt-Gerrans ’42 launched the

“Woodstock Choralaires” in 1966 with ten charter members; today, this accomplished choir boasts more than 60 performers. The singers, make-up artists, stage crew, and director are all volunteers; all expenses are paid by the members themselves or through public donations and projects run by the members. Dr. Gordon Perkin ’53 was a Senior Fellow with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program from 1995 until his retirement in 2005. From 1980 to 1999, he served as president of the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), an international NFP dedicated to improving health – especially the health of women and children. As a physician with more than 40 years of experience in international health and family planning, Gordon also spent 14 years with the Ford Foundation, where he worked as program officer in a variety of international health and population projects. He served as a long-term consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the design and research strategy of the Special Programme in Human Reproduction, and has consulted with several

other WHO programs. He was a member of the Committee on Contraceptive Development of the Institute of Medicine, and a board member of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, and the Global Health Council. Glenn Rae ’57 was elected director of the

Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation (SMHF) Board in 2009, VP of SMHF in 2010, and president of the corporation and Chair of the SMHF Board in 2012. Robert (Bob) Tweedy ’60 served on the board of Care Canada from 1998 to 2010, and was Chair from 2002 to 2006; he was awarded The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003 for his work with Care. During Bob’s tenure, Care had primary management responsibility for projects in nine countries – but also provided expertise and resource assistance to more than 30 other countries. In addition to emergency relief work, Care is known for its hands-on field-work in health, education, women’s advocacy, and the development of small businesses to create sustainable employment and wealth. “My greatest satisfaction came from visiting and reviewing progress on Care projects in countries such as Nicaragua, Peru, East Timor, Cameroon, Kenya, Mali, and Thailand – and being able to see firsthand the positive impact of this work on people’s lives,” said Bob. Richard Reoch ’66 has devoted most of

his working life to the defense of human rights, the protection of the environment, and the global search for peace. After graduating from UofT, he moved to England to work at Amnesty International. For many years, he was the organization’s global media chief, speaking for human rights worldwide. His field has been campaigning against torture: he is the author of the official field manual on torture prevention used by the 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Richard was an adviser to the Indo-British Project on the Prevention of Torture on behalf of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. In the 1980s, Sting asked Richard to help him organize the Rainforest Foundation, and he is still one of its trustees. He has led international

TOP: Dr. Gordon Perkin ’53 BOTTOM: Robert (Bob) Tweedy ’60

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TOP: Richard Reoch ’66 in Sri Lanka. BOTTOM: Don Gordon ’76 in Victoria leading a mass canvass to identify voters opposed to tankers.

consultations involving organizations working on peace and justice issues in Ireland (north and south). Richard’s work has taken him to more than 40 countries, and he currently chairs the International Working Group on Sri Lanka. The son of Greek-Macedonian immigrants, Dr. Chris Giannou ’68 left Canada to study and work in various countries in Africa and the Middle East. From 1980 to 1990, he was a surgeon with the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Lebanon where he founded several field hospitals. He was taken prisoner of war by the Israeli army during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982; in 1983, he was responsible for the medical care of Israeli POWs in the hands of the PLO in Tripoli, Lebanon, where he had to dodge Syrian bombs in order to reach his Israeli patients. The memoir of his experiences in the Shatilla refugee camp was published in the best seller Besieged: A Doctor’s Story of Life and Death in Beirut (Key Porter Books, 1990). As a delegate of the Canadian Red Cross Society, Chris worked as a surgeon for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Somalia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, and 18

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Burundi. He served as medical coordinator of the ICRC campaign to ban anti-personnel landmines, which helped lead to the Ottawa Treaty of 1997. He returned to the field as an ICRC surgeon in Chechnya and then served as Head Surgeon of the ICRC in Geneva from 1998 to 2005 with field missions to Sudan, DR Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and the DPR Korea. He is the senior author of the ICRC publications First Aid in Armed Conflicts and Other Situations of Violence (2005) and War Surgery: Working with Limited Resources in Armed Conflict and Other Situations of Violence, Volume 1, published in 2009; Volume 2 was published in February 2013. Although officially retired from the ICRC, Chris continues to deploy on short field missions, most recently Libya and southern Thailand. He also serves as surgical consultant for the Canadian Red Cross Rapid Deployment Field Hospital – Emergency Response Unit and for the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre in Darwin, Australia. He was inducted a Member of the Order of Canada in 1990 for his humanitarian work in the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon and was awarded the Star of Palestine by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Don Gordon ’76 entered the world of NFPs in the ’90s as executive director of one of Canada’s first land trusts: charitable organizations that preserve natural lands in perpetuity for public benefit. “Over time, I’ve helped establish four conservation organizations and came to chair the Stewardship Network of Ontario – a provincial table where industry, government and ENGOs meet to find common ground,” he says. A passion for SCUBA diving opened Don’s eyes to the “perilous state of the oceans.” Two years ago, Don became Development Manager of the Dogwood Initiative: a public interest group in Victoria, BC opposing oil tanker traffic and pipeline developments “that threaten the coast with catastrophic spills.” Scott Robertson ’79, left a successful counselling

practice in Vancouver in 2001 for a two-year commitment with Voluntary Services Oversees (VSO) in Zambia. Involved in HIV and AIDS activism and direct-service delivery since 1988, he thought his experience and skills could be put to good use in the “eye of the storm/epidemic that was, and still is, sub-Saharan Africa. So I chose

Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) since 1999 when she went to Nigeria as a nurse. “The plan had been for me to work at a primary health care project in the south, but I ended up as part of a team responding to a cholera epidemic in the north of the country,” she says. “The job was interesting, dynamic, challenging and rewarding – I was hooked.” She worked two more contracts in Africa before completing her MSc in Epidemiology. Kathryn is now an epidemiologist for Epicentre, a research and epidemiological unit of MSF in the Republic of Congo (CongoBrazzaville). “My current role is to provide technical support to field teams, usually related to epidemics. I set up surveillance systems, organize field surveys, do evaluations, and train field staff. I’m based in Paris, but travel frequently – mainly to Africa, but I did spend a few months in Haiti after the earthquake and during the peak of the cholera epidemic. Here in Congo-B, I’m liaising with the health authorities and evaluating the possibility of using a new vaccine to help control a cholera epidemic.” Ian Worland ’86 has been a member of the Board

of Governors of Quest University Canada since 2008 and Chair of the Board since 2011. Quest is Canada’s first independent, secular, not-forprofit university; it features small class sizes, an immersive, interdisciplinary, broad-based liberal arts and science curriculum, and a “block” program in which students study one course at a time in three-and-half week units. “Meeting with the students and hearing of their incredible passion and enthusiasm for the learning experience at Quest has brought back memories of what it was like to be a student at UTS,” Ian

Mark Shuper ’88 is co-founder of the

Hong Kong-based Sprouts Foundation. The organization works closely with Po Leung Kuk (the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Women and Children) and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong, and together with them launched its anchor project, the Education Services Centre (ESC), in 2011. The ESC provides Englishlanguage tuition, storytelling sessions, and monthly outings to 120 primary students in a very low-income district of Hong Kong’s New Territories. This fall, Sprouts and its partners will extend the ESC to include a secondary program with an initial capacity for 100 additional students.

Kathryn Alberti ’86 has been working for Médecins

says. “I have been privileged to have a role, however small, in offering a similar opportunity to a new generation of students going to university in BC.”

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the VSO placement in Zambia, and the rest is history!” That history includes more than 12 years of community, organizational, and program development experience in International HIV/ AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and support in Zambia. Since 2003, Scott has been both technical advisor and donor to Prison Care and Counseling Association – a local advocacy and direct-service NGO addressing the needs of current and former inmates. Community Mobilization Advisor for the Zambia-led Prevention Initiative, Scott was the co-founder of Serenity Harm Reduction Program of Zambia, founder of the Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign, and co-founder of the Lusaka Counseling Academy.

a Jilli

Abby Deshman ’99 is a lawyer with the

Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), a national non-profit that advocates for and protects the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals across Canada. She is currently director of the Public Safety Program, which deals with police powers and police accountability, individuals’ rights in the criminal law process, and inmate rights and privacy. “I decided to go into social justice because I wanted to grapple with and challenge the policies, laws and systemic issues that directly impact individuals’ lives,” she explains. Before joining the CCLA, Abby worked for small NGOs in Bangladesh and Nicaragua. “During law school, I spent my summers working for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Kenya, the Human Rights Watch’s terrorism-counterterrorism division in New York, and a local labour rights organization in Peru,” she adds. Elisha Muskat ’01 says she never made a

conscious decision to work in a non-profit setting: “I’ve always just tried to find work that I care about. Whether an organization I am part of is profit-making or not, the key for me is what difference it is trying to make in the world,”

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Chris Giannou ’68, Scott Robertson ’79, Ian Worland ’86, Elisha Muskat ’01

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she continues. “With the prevalence of violence, disregard for the natural world, and oppression of Peoples, I feel lucky to see examples every day of innovative solutions to these challenges.” Elisha currently works at Ashoka Canada: the Canadian arm of Ashoka (a global association of social entrepreneurs). Previously, she had worked at Peer Health Exchange, Phipps Community Development Corporation, the Cabbagetown Youth Centre, and the ROM. Vanessa Meadu ’01 works with an

international agricultural research institute (CGIAR) that focuses on food security, healthy ecosystems, climate change, and improving the lives of smallholder farmers in economically developing regions. “I work with some of the world’s leading scientists on climate change and food systems to get this vital research out into the world,” she says. “Some of our achievements include getting agriculture included in the UN Climate Change and Rio+20 Sustainable Development discussions, and helping bring poor farmers’ voices and perspectives into mainstream media.”

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Clara Chow ’03 in Niger, Alexander Speers-Roesch ’02, Sinye Tang ’09 20

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Eva Vivalt ’01 is CEO and founder of AidGrade, a new non-profit research organization created to identify which international development programs do the most good. The company provides potential donors with the most accurate, accessible, and up-to-date information about the effectiveness of aid programs and organizations: essentially, they give good advice on how to donate money. Two of Eva’s UTS classmates are helping with the fledgling company: Philip Weiner ’01 is on the board, and Diana (Chisholm) Skrzydlo ’01 has offered some of her statistics students at the University of Waterloo the opportunity to gain real-world experience by helping to collect quantitative data from impact evaluations of development programs. A Young Professional at

the World Bank, Eva has extensive experience with international development, including field experience, through work with the UN Development Program, Oxford Development Abroad, and numerous other charity groups. Alexander Speers-Roesch ’02 works in the

climate and energy campaign at Greenpeace Canada, which advocates for sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through a speedy transition from fossil fuels and nuclear power to renewable energy and energy efficiency. “Much of my work is focused on halting the expansion of the Canadian tar/oil sands – by preventing the construction of new pipelines, for example – and protecting Arctic communities and ecosystems from the threats of offshore oil drilling and climate change,” he says. “It involves a wide range of activities, including public education, blogging, research, logistics, civil disobedience, and engaging and organizing the public to take action on environmental issues.” In 2009, Clara Chow ’03 founded Generation Enterprise, a small business incubator that equips at-risk youth to start sustainable businesses in slum communities. A US-Nigeria collaboration, it was launched with seed funding from Wharton, Stanford, Oxford, McKinsey partners, Microsoft, Google, and Seventh Generation Corporation. “We’ve run five cohorts and launched 14 businesses in Lagos,” says Clara, “and are looking to scale to India and build a strong investment and revenue model.” As the COO of Elmseed Enterprise Fund – a student-run domestic microfinance non-profit – Sinye Tang ’09 works with a team of 50 students to provide consulting services and micro-loans to New Haven, CT entrepreneurs who do not qualify for a loan through traditional financing means. “I’m motivated to work in the field of domestic microfinance to ensure that credit is not a barrier to making a living – as in the case of a food-cart owner who needs to replace a $1,000 malfunctioning generator or face closing his business,” says Sinye. “This micro-finance model is exciting because it relies on the volunteer energy and technical skill of university students to ensure low overhead costs and maximize lending capacity to our clients: the 12 different chapters of the Campus Microfinance Alliance served 700 clients last year (Elmseed served 127 of these).” n

Photos by Victor Yeung

2012 Crawford Award and Hall of Fame Don Gutteridge, who joined UTS as a teacher

in 1961 and who served as principal from 1972 to 1983, was the 2012 recipient of the Crawford Award. He was cited for “his profound dedication to educational ideals and forward-thinking vision,” and for the fact that, “as a stalwart supporter of UTS for 50 years, his commitment to the school has been unwavering.” In his introduction, Don Borthwick ’54 observed that Don had become principal at the beginning of one of the most important periods in UTS history. “The changes that he initiated during his tenure were transformative,” he said. These changes included bringing co-education to UTS, the hiring of women to the staff, elimination of grade 13, modernization of the curriculum, cessation of the cadet corps, promotion of overseas student exchanges, initiation of the first bursary fundraising program, and many more, all “achieved with a steady hand on the tiller.” The award was presented to Don Gutteridge during the Annual Alumni Dinner in October, and he took the opportunity to share many UTS memories. Describing UTS as “the greatest school

in the world,” he reminisced about his retirement when four prefects brought his office chair on to the auditorium stage during a farewell assembly. Once he had sat down, they then proceeded to carry him back to his office where a card on his desk read: “Mr. G’s desk. Please do not touch.” Don also let the assembled guests know that he was wearing the gold cufflinks that were his retirement gift from the school. “This has been a wonderful evening,” he observed: “a celebration of continuity and an affirmation that the roots continue to sustain the tree.” Inductees to the UTS Hall of Fame were also honoured at the Alumni Dinner. Retired sports and physical education teachers, Ornella Barrett and Ron Wakelin, were both cited for “dedication and commitment to promoting an environment of sound ethics, fair play, and equal opportunity in the athletic life of the school and for challenging our athletes to reach their full potential.” Also inducted were the first two Girls Field Hockey championship teams: 1991–92 and 1992–93. These teams – which Don Borthwick described as “a small dynasty at UTS: four City champions in five years!” – were coached by Ornella. n

Clockwise from top left: Members of the 1991-2 and 1992-3 Girls Field Hockey Championship teams with UTSAA Board Chair John Wilkinson ’78 and Don Borthwick ’54; Don Gutteridge; Ron Wakelin and Ornella Barrett with Don Borthwick ’54.

THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

2012 Annual Alumni Dinner More than 220 alumni, former and current staff, and guests attended the Annual Alumni Dinner, which took place on October 13, 2012 at St. Michael’s College, UofT. Forty attendees came from out of town, travelling from BC, NS (and many points in between), as well as from CA, FL, MN, NY, and PA. Four alumni made the trip from overseas: Tim Mitchell ’82 and Christopher Watson ’92 from the UK, Liang Hong ’02 from Japan, and Katie Gibson ’95 from Cambodia. Many of the current staff were guests of the class of 2002, who were out in full force with a

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

representation of 44 class members. Pre-dinner entertainment was provided by a three-piece jazz trio and vocalist (all Class of 2013). Student captains Emma Clarke ’13 and Josh Feldman ’13 presented a boutonnière to our oldest grad in attendance, John McIntyre ’37; and Bruce “Nails” Maclean received a welcoming standing ovation. MC Rob Duncan ’95 ably guided the proceedings, which included greetings from John Wilkinson ’78, Chair of the UTSAA Board, Principal Rosemary Evans, and UTS Board members Susan Opler ’79 and John Duffy ’81. n

Page 22: TOP ROW (L-R): Former and current staff (FRONT ROW (L-R): Rosemary Evans, Ann Unger, Anne Millar, Carole Bernicchia-Freeman, Rose Dotten, Ornella Barrett, Ana Pereira-Castillo, Judy Fleming. BACK ROW (L-R): Mike Gendron, David Laurenson, Don Gutteridge, Scott Baker, Al Fleming ’54, Clare Pace, Ron Wakelin.); Bruce “Nails” MacLean. BOTTOM ROW (L-R): John Duffy ’81; John Wilkinson ’78, Susan Opler ’79, Rob Duncan ’95. Page 23: TOP ROW (L-R): John McIntyre ’37 and Michael Fair ’47; Classes of 1972-73. MIDDLE: Class of 2002. BOTTOM ROW (L-R): Class of 82; Class of 87 Photos by Victor Yeung THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

Alumni News

Notes on The Interesting Lives and Outstanding Achievements of Our Alumni

Former UTS principal Robin Brooke-Smith says his new book, Storm Warning (I.B. Tauris/The Radcliffe Press, 2012 and Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), describes his experiences in the Pakistan Afghan Borderlands and the rise of Global Jihad. There will be a Toronto launch at UofT’s Munk Centre on April 9. “I thought it might amuse any other members of my class that graduated at the same time to see how I’m doing,” writes Gillean MacKinnon ’32. “It won’t be long until I’m 100 years old.” His sister Ainslie turned 100 recently, and brother Murdo ’32 recently passed away at the age of 95. “So we’re a long-lived family,” observes Gillean. John Bennett ’38 – who served in the

Camouflage Unit during WWII and recorded his impressions of life on the Front in small watercolour sketches – has made a gift of these paintings to the National War Museum in Ottawa. After the war, John was accorded the first one-man show of a living artist at the Art Gallery of Toronto. In October,

John and five other veterans toured the War Museum and viewed a selection of John’s works on display, prompting him to comment: “I’m now a little piece of history!” In November 2012, a book launch was held in Collingwood for Images and Reflections (LifeGems Personal Histories, 2012) by Hugh Monro Dale ’39, a selfdescribed life-long student, watercolour artist, and botanical expert. Retired UTS art teacher, Ann Unger donated a copy of the book, an autobiography and collection of paintings by the author, to the UTS library. In September 2012, the University of Toronto launched the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development (IHD) – named in memory of early human development champion Fraser Mustard ’46. IHD, the first institute of its kind in Canada, encompasses faculties and divisions across UofT as well as its affiliated hospitals. “Fraser Mustard was a giant… a man of unflagging curiosity and great generosity of spirit,” said UofT President David Naylor at the opening. “The Institute for Human

Development was his vision and gift for future generations.” On December 5, 2012, Don Lawson ’47 was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Dr. Lawson was nominated by the YMCA of Metropolitan Toronto for his many volunteer contributions over 60 years to that organization, the extraordinary contribution he has made to Canadian society as the Chairman of the Board of The Counselling Foundation of Canada, his service to Victoria University, as well as his many other volunteer leadership roles. “One day in 2010,” writes Peter MacNames ’49, “my grandson Dylan suggested I record my piano stylings as a sort of legacy for my descendants and that, with his audio training, he’d be my sound engineer. After two recording sessions, we created a CD… of my favourite tunes, played the way I like them.” Dennis Lee’s Toronto, a musical journey through “a past that should have been”, premiered at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in October

L-R: Gillean MacKinnon ’32; John Bennett ’38, with one of his watercolours, at the National War Museum; Peter MacNames ’49 at the keyboard. 24

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ALUMNI NEWS

2012. Poet Dennis Lee ’57, author of Alligator Pie and co-founder of House of Anansi Press, collaborated with the Young Centre’s resident artists program to create a series of Toronto-centric songs with titles such as “Rosedale Mansions”, “The Ghostly Grenadier”, and “The Sun Comes Up in Scarborough”. When interviewed by the Globe and Mail, Lee commented that he was striving for songs that had “that feel of being around for decades but somehow also [with] the overlay of today’s Toronto, where there are these musical traditions from all around the world.” At the Table, Nourishing Conversation and Food (Penumbra Press, 2012), by Terence Keenleyside ’58, is a collection

of recipes and of entertaining stories drawn from dinnertime exchanges. “While there is growing evidence of the social, educational, and psychological importance of conversation at the dinner table,” says Terence, “the custom is threatened by the frenetic pace of life and ubiquitous presence of electronic devices. This book is a happy reminder of the pleasure of collective dining and… a warning of the dangers in neglecting this tradition.” Leonard Dudley ’62,

honorary president at the Université de Montréal, recently released a new book, Mothers of Innovation: How expanding social networks gave birth to the Industrial Revolution (Cambridge

Scholars Publishing, 2012), a copy of which he donated to the UTS library. Alex Rae-Grant ’75, a staff neurologist

at the Cleveland Clinic since 2007, and wife Mary Bruce have four children: sons Michael, Tucker, and George, and a daughter, Sasha. “I am still swimming competitively and enjoy commuting to work on my bicycle,” he reports. His sixth medical textbook will be published in the coming year. Allison MacDuffee ’78 and her husband John Spragge are delighted to announce that their adoption of their daughter Kennedy has now been finalized. Leigh Sarty ’79 writes: “Since August, I

have been back in Moscow as Deputy Head of Mission at the Canadian Embassy, together with my wonderful spouse Ruth Fawcett ’79 and our youngest son Robert (who was born during our last Moscow posting in the late 1990s).” Nomi Morris ’80 has been appointed

Program Chair of Visual Journalism at Brooks Institute in Ventura, California. Brooks, founded in 1945 in Santa Barbara, built its reputation as the nation’s premiere college for professional photography. Today it also offers degrees in Graphic Design, Film, and Visual Journalism – which encompasses photojournalism, multimedia journalism, documentary filmmaking, and writing for mass media. Nomi invites alumni who work in any of these fields to visit as guest speakers, and also to refer potential students to her. Eric Kert ’80 has been working in the international concert business for over 22 years. Currently, he is Executive

VP, Business & Legal Affairs for Live Nation Global Touring, the world’s largest concert promoter. He began as an entertainment lawyer at Goodmans and moved in-house in 1990 to BCL Entertainment Corp., the Canadian concert and theatre powerhouse, to manage business and legal affairs. Over the years, he has helped manage many of the top-grossing concert tours of all time, including numerous tours by The Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna, Pink Floyd, Lady Gaga, The Police, Neil Young, and Barbra Streisand. “UTS helped me to think analytically and problem solve,” Eric said. “But when I told Mick it’s all because of UTS, he furrowed his brow and said ‘I think there’s a vaccine for that’.” John Chew ’81 – a mathematician,

software developer, and Scrabble consultant – was in the eye of the worldwide media in January, explaining why the values of Scrabble letter tiles remain unchanged despite the evolution of the English language, defending them on the basis of their play balance against a technical attack by Joshua Lewis, a computer scientist based in California. Appearances on the BBC, NPR, and CBC culminated in an online match between the two on February 8. John lives with his wife and two sons in Toronto when not travelling around the world organizing Scrabble tournaments. After receiving a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics at Caltech and pursuing a career in applied mathematics, Darin Beigie ’82 has been teaching middleschool math for the last 18 years. Recently, Darin published THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

ALUMNI NEWS Lisa Grushcow ’92 is the senior rabbi

at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal – the oldest Reform synagogue in Canada. In addition to her degree from McGill, Lisa holds a Master’s and Ph.D. in philosophy from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar. In 2003, she was ordained a rabbi at New York City’s Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. She then served at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, a Reform synagogue in Manhattan.

Darin Beigie ’82 is the author of a new book for middle-school math enrichment.

an enrichment book for middle-school math students that provides problemsolving opportunities in a contentrich setting. The book, Mathematical Reasoning: Middle School Supplement, is part of the Critical Thinking Company’s Mathematical Reasoning Series. Wendy Drukier ’86 is now the

Ambassador to the Republic of Costa Rica, with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Honduras and the Republic of Nicaragua. Gregory Shron ’89 and wife Samantha

Shron are very happy to announce the arrival of Nathaniel Lee Shron (aka Nat). “Born in Daejeon, South Korea on January 3, 2011, Nat officially joined our family on September 13, 2012,” Greg writes. “Big sister Miriam is busy showing him the ropes. They both hope to meet Dad’s old classmates at the 25th reunion in 2014!”

Aaron Chan ’94 married Agnes Lee on April 28, 2012 in Toronto. There were many UTS connections among the guests including fellow class of ’94 members Steve Engels, Eugene Kim, Dennis Ku, Keith Lau, and Lawrence Yu, as well as current parent Helmut Zisser. Amanda Ross-White ’96 and Michael

White are thrilled to announce the safe arrival of Alexander Robert, born May 8, 2012, a little brother to Rebecca Katherine. Last summer, Joyce Poon ’98 (UofT Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Canada Research Chair in Integrated Photonic Devices, UofT), was honoured as one of 35 young innovators to be singled out by MIT’s Technology Review as rising stars in an international high-tech ranking. She joins a list of past recipients that includes Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Her research focuses on developing faster, more energy-efficient ways to transmit data using optics or light signals – work that is immediately applicable to servers in large computer facilities, but which has the potential to change the way computers are built. Albert Tang ’99 and his wife Rei are happy to announce and celebrate the arrival of their first child, Maximus Tang, in September 2012. Christopher Yau and Jennifer Luong from the class of 2006 were married on the Toronto Islands on June 23, 2012. “We chose to have our wedding on the island,” they write, “because our first ‘date’ was S6 House Island Day and we have many wonderful memories there.” The couple was surrounded by friends from UTS, including the entire wedding party (fellow classmates Radu Craioveanu, Charley Wang, Cynthia Smithers, and Morag Scanlon). Jennifer is currently a third-year law student at UofT and will be articling at the constitutional law branch of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General next year; Chris is currently a graduate student in the UofT Department of Immunology, working on Type 1 diabetes at Sick Kids Hospital.

Founded by Gavin Pitchford ’76, Delta Management Group continues to steward Canada’s Clean50 Award,

Phil Curry ’90 and his wife Zahra are

happy to announce the birth of their second child, a daughter named Kiara Jade Habib Curry. “She was born on August 8, 2012 (a full two months ahead of her due date!), weighing 4lbs 5oz. Despite being born early, she is doing very well,” Phil reports. 26

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

L: Aaron Chan ’94 married Agnes Lee last April. R: Amanda Ross-White ’96 with baby Alexander.

ALUMNI NEWS which annually recognizes Canadians who work to enhance sustainability and clean capitalism in Canada. Many UTS alumni are involved in the creation and organizing of the endeavour: Paul Cassel ’77, Elaine Evans (nee Duffy) ’80, Siva Vijenthira ’05, and Celesa Horvath ’85. Celesa was also an Honouree this year through her consulting firm, Ventus. Don Schmitt ’70, of Diamond Schmitt Architects, was honoured for his contribution to green building design. UTS won a Top 10 Project Award for teacher Josh Fullan’s urban design program, Maximum City. Gavin chaired the Clean50 Summit 2.0 last September during which Celesa, Paul, Don, and Josh met with more than 100 other Clean50 honourees to discuss means of advancing Canada’s sustainability.

Kirsten Jewell ’04 married Adam McClure in May 2012 with many UTS friends in attendance.

has performed in New York, London, and Toronto. Kirsten Jewell ’04 married Adam McClure

on May 26, 2012 in Toronto. Classmates Kai Chan ’93 is a 2013 Stanford

Woods Institute for the Environment Leopold Leadership Fellow – one of 20 outstanding researchers selected from 17 North American institutions. Kai is associate professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. His research area is “Improving the management and governance of socialecological systems.” David Heti ’01 has left the Department

of Justice for the world of comedy. He

Johanna Pokorny, Hannah Chiu, and Jennifer Forsyth were in the wedding party, and Deborah Kanter, Kay Lam, and Esther Lexchin also attended the

wedding. After a honeymoon in Costa Rica, Kirsten and Adam packed up and moved across the country to Kelowna, BC, where both are completing their residencies in family medicine. In October 2012, Martin Heslop ’04 and his friend Colin Power opened Montreal’s newest jazz venue, Resonance Café. The café showcases live jazz music, highlighting the depth and variety of

There are lots of great ways to stay in touch! The Alumni E-Directory – sign-up at: www.utschools.ca/alumniedirectory

Facebook:

www.fb.com/utschools

the jazz scene in the city. With great music and fair-trade and ethical food and drink suppliers, Resonance is quickly becoming a favourite spot in Montreal’s Mile-End neighbourhood. “If you’re in the area, stop in and say hi!” says Martin.

Alumni Visitors UTS welcomed a number of alumni guests over the last few months. Many answered the call for volunteers to help the new UTS Law Team prepare for the Ontario Bar Association’s Secondary School Mock Trial Tournament. In the fall, Richard B. Jones ’59 was the first guest speaker, and Tim Morgan ’97 suggested a mock-trial curriculum and is currently working with the students on a bi-weekly basis.

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THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

TOP ROW (L-R): Richard B. Jones ’58 visits Law Club; Christina Shum ’06 and Melissa Lam ’06 in an S5 music class. BOTTOM ROW (L-R): A pre-graduation ceremony volley ball game between the Class of 2012 and the current Senior Blues; US Thanksgiving visits from the Class of ’12: Julia Romansky ’12, Jeannie Xu and Adarsh Gupta (seated) along with UofT student Jessica Zung (standing) who also stopped by to say hi; Julia Pomerantz ’12. Christina Shum ’06, a music therapist

working with residents in long‑term care facilities, and Melissa Lam ’06, who turned to song-writing while teaching English in Hong Kong to help her deal with the challenges of living abroad, shared their experiences with Judy Kay’s S5 (grade 11) students last fall who were examining the power of music from different perspectives. Melissa’s CD, Eight Months, is available online. On November 13, UTS welcomed Paul Tough ’85. Paul launched his book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Power of Character (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) at a public, wellattended community assembly and then spoke to the UTS students at a school assembly the next morning.

On leave from their respective US universities over the American Thanksgiving period, Adarsh Gupta ’12, Julia Romansky ’12, Jeannie Xu ’12, Julia Pomerantz ’12, and Soniya Sharma ’08 visited UTS and spoke to senior students about their university experiences to date. Forty-seven alumni volunteered at the Stage 2 Admissions Interview Testing in January. The school can’t wait to meet the class of 2019 in September! In early February, UTS Debate Society members demonstrated their logistical proficiency when the school hosted the Fulford Debating event. In addition, more than 60 members of the UTS community – alumni, parents, family members, staff, former staff, and friends of the school – contributed their time as judges. The two

guest speakers were Professor Marcel Danesi, UofT professor of anthropology; and current parent John Duffy ’81, Vice Chair of the UTS Board of Directors, who spoke about the importance of listening as a critical skill. In addition, there were performances by the UTS Taiko Drummers led by Anthony Lee ’86 and by our Indian dancers, who recently appeared in SHOW. The Class of 2012 enjoyed a banquet at the Faculty Club hosted by the UTSAA on November 3. Director Jonathan Bitidis ’99 brought greetings from the association, and many of our alumni scholarship donors were on hand to make presentations to the graduates. For some of our alumni, the day began with a volleyball game: the Class of 2012 playing the Senior Blues!

Celebrating 14 years!

Exhibiting in the Gallery this fall:

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

Margaret Krawecka ’96

The Keys Gallery is located in Room 107a at UTS. If you’d like to exhibit, contact Liv Mapué ’04 at Olivia mapue@knilstudio.com or Johanna Pokorny at johanna.pokorny@gmail. com for further information.

TOP ROW (L-R): Branching Out speed mentoring discussions; Joyce Poon ’98, Cari Whyne ’87, Brent Huffman ’99 and Julie Hwang ’06 at UTS for Not Science Fiction: My Path. BOTTOM ROW (L-R): Dave Auster ’86, Olivia Padiernos-Mapué ’04, Alison Falby ’90, Conrad Chow ’99, and Rob Duncan ’95 discuss The Road Less Travelled.

Branching Out It’s been another busy year for our Branching Out mentoring program. This year’s cohort ended their partnerships on January 31 with a Speed Mentoring Pizza Party during which students circulated for five-minute mentoring sessions with nine different mentors. It was both fun and fruitful! In summing up the experience, one student commented on how helpful it was to “ask questions… about various choices and paths that I am about to embark upon.” One of the mentors noted that it was “very nice to be able to allay fears and help to focus energies more positively.” There were two exciting events during the fall. The Road Less Travelled featured Conrad Chow ’99 in concert performing music from his new CD Premieres, as well as the world premiere of je t’y plumerai by Alex Eddington ’98. Later, Conrad was joined by Dave Auster ’86, Rev. Dr. Alison Falby ’90, Rob Duncan ’95, and Olivia Padiernos-Mapué ’04 for a panel discussion on out-of-the-box career choices. Alison set the tone for the evening by quoting Frederick Buechner: “Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” Many inspirational messages about

lessons learned and following one’s passions were shared with the audience of students, parents, alumni, and staff. Not Science Fiction: My Path featured professions sparked by an interest in science. The panelists were Sunnybrook scientist Dr. Cari Whyne ’87, UofT assistant professor Dr. Joyce Poon ’98, zoologist Brent Huffman ’99, and McGill science graduate and naturopathy student, Julie Hwang ’06. A common denominator for all of these alumni was time spent working and/

or studying abroad and a desire to make a difference – be it in the areas of healthcare, animal care, or the physical world. Treating the unexpected as an opportunity was seen as critical. As Brent commented, “small choices take you to exciting places.” The next group of students and alumni will meet in April. Enquiries are welcome throughout the year, and potential alumni mentors should contact the Office of Advancement to express their interest.

Want to hear original pieces by students and alumni at UTS or recall the day when you or your classmate wrote a hilarious song for the Twig Tape? Presenting:

uTunes

the UTS student-run online music repository For a digital version of every twig tape since 1985, go to utunes.utschools.ca

THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

ALUMNI NEWS

LEFT: The Montreal branch event. RIGHT: Team Victor is Crazy basketball champs, Luke Nelson, Clayton Tso, and Thomas Harris, all Class of ’02.

Branch Events

Class Reunions

A Montreal gathering in November 2012 gave local alumni the chance to get together and also to meet Principal Rosemary Evans and Executive Director of Advancement Martha Drake. In January, a small group of alumni in the Victoria, BC area had the chance to get an update on the school from Martha Drake and to meet and forge some new connections. Upcoming events include New York City on April 11 and Ottawa on May 9. Don’t miss out: make sure to send the Office of Advancement an updated email address so that we can invite you!

Thirteen members of the Class of 1947 met for a congenial luncheon at the Badminton and Racquet Club on October 23, 2012 to celebrate their 65th anniversary. Honoured guests included Principal Rosemary Evans – who spoke thoughtfully and generously of UTS and the class – and Martha Drake, Executive Director, Advancement.

The

Annual Alumni Dinner will be held on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at the Marriott Yorkville Registration is now open. Go to: www.utschools.ca/ rsvp or call 416-978-3919 Early Bird pricing until August 31st!

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

Undaunted by the drizzly November weather, the Class of ’52, spouses, and guest of honour Bruce “Nails” McLean attended the 60th reunion and a friendly evening was enjoyed by all. The 50th reunion of the Class of ’62 was a great occasion with a fine turnout; only 16 classmates were unable to attend. A Friday evening gathering proved to a good opportunity for socializing. On Saturday, the class attended the Annual Alumni Dinner – at the conclusion of which the class of ’62 dispersed for another year or five. More than 20 members of the Class of ’77 got together at the home of Bill Robson and his wife Helen last October. Phil Schogt, who came from Amsterdam, claimed the distance prize; there were many wives in attendance, as well as special guests former principal Don Gutteridge and his wife, Anne. Reaching

out with invitations refreshed contact with more than 50 classmates and there are hopes for an even better turnout at the next reunion – currently planned for the spring of 2015.

2013 Alumni 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament Nine teams took to the court for the annual 3-on-3 Alumni Basketball Tournament. Team Victor is Crazy (Thomas Harris ’03, Luke Nelson ’03, Clayton Tso ’03, and friend Matthew Tanner) retained the coveted trophy for the third year in a row – the makings of a dynasty! The Power Rangers (Andrew Chan ’08, Frank Grek ’06, Ryan Lee ’12, and Stephen Rowlands ’08) were runners-up.

In Memoriam Remembering the Lives and Achievements of our Alumni

Donald Hubbs ’43 1925-2013 A good friend and the glue that kept our class together Donald Hubbs ’43 passed away in Guelph General Hospital on January 26, 2013 from cancer. He was age 87. After UTS, Don received a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto and then worked his entire professional life with National Silicates.

ALUMNI NEWS When he attended UTS, the students were known as “Baldy’s Boys” (named after their bald headmaster, Dr. Lewis). Don’s loyalty and dedication to his class became evident about 20 years ago when he stepped up to the plate and established himself as chief organizer of the class of ’43. The most important meeting of the class was a monthly luncheon held September to May, initially at the Arcadian Court and then at the Albany

Club. With the help of other club members, he also arranged an annual spring luncheon. He invited new UTS principals to join us – including Rosemary Evans in June 2012. Due to Don’s email reminders, 35 classmates attended. In 2002, Don started publishing an impressive and attractive booklet called Baldy’s Boys, which included full contact information for the class and the names of those recently deceased. Eventually, he sent the booklets to the classes of ’41 through ’45 (the “Friends of the Class of ’43”) as well and invited them to the lunches. Donald Hubbs was not remarkable because he made public headlines. He

Condolences are extended to the families of these alumni who passed away recently. Holton Shipman ’33

A. Donald Manchester ’44

September 18, 2011

October 2012

Robert Grant ’34

John R. Robinson ’44

August 16, 2012

July 24, 2012

Maurice D. Boyd ’36

Robert Lanning ’45

November 25, 2012

November 24, 2012

George Kelk ’37

Bruce E. Brown ’46

November 9, 2012

October 30, 2012

Raymond H. Souster ’39

Robert Brodie ’47

October 19, 2012

December 6, 2012

John Walker ’39

James Butler ’47

September 3, 2012

September 29, 2012

Hertzel Rotenberg ’40

Roderick J. Whitehead ’47

September 22, 2011

September 15, 2012

Reginald Victor Barnett ’41

Clayton R. Peterson ’48

January 21, 2013

August 19, 2012

Richard Lloyd ’41

William Bodrug ’49

September 10, 2012

November 28, 2012

Alexander T. Cringan ’43

Donald Landon ’49

October 30, 2012

October 28, 2012

John J. Fox ’43

Harvey Brown ’55

September 26, 2012

November 24, 2012

Donald E.H. Hubbs ’43

John Chidley-Hill ’73

January 26, 2013

February 3, 2013

J. Richard Joy ’44

Peter Odell ’73

October 6, 2012

January 2, 2013

was devoted to his UTS classmates and so – in a modest, quiet, personal way – he worked over the years to keep these classmates connected with each other. In so doing, he reinforced one simple truth: friendships should be nurtured, for each one adds value to our lives. As did Don Hubbs. He is survived by his wife Dilwyn, two sons, a stepson and stepdaughter, and six grandchildren. –Ted Cross ’43

Don Manchester ’44 1924-2012 A fine gentleman and loyal supporter of UTS Don Manchester ’44 died last October, as the result of a fall. Over the years he attended UTS, he developed from being a rather shy boy (the Twig described him as “quiet, reliable, and popular”), into a leader. He eventually became an officer in the Cadet Corps, Form Captain of his VA (Grade 13) class, and the winner of the silver Nesbitt Medal. Upon graduation from UTS in 1944, Don joined the Royal Canadian Navy and served until the end of the war. On his return, he involved himself in alumni affairs and became president of the UTSAA in 1962. In addition, in the mid‑1990s, Don took on a major role in the “Preserve the Opportunity” campaign, which raised $15-million for the UTS Bursary Fund. For the last two decades, he maintained his interest in UTS and its grads through such activities as the “Baldy’s Boys” luncheons, class of 1944 gatherings, Remembrance Day school assemblies, and annual donations to the school. We will miss Don Manchester very much; he was a fine gentleman and loyal supporter of UTS. –Derek Bate ’44 THE UTS ALUMNI M AGAZINE

Looking Back

Judging from these archival photographs, carefully preserved and restored by John Murray ’54, the UTS Class of 1954 knew how to run hard and play hard! The setting for both pictures is Varsity Centre. The track-and-field meet took place in May 1954, just before graduation from UTS. At the Old Boys Hockey Night of February 18, 1955 – “the first after our graduation,” John points out – the chance to play cards on a drum clearly trumped the action on the ice! “The old Ektachrome slides had gone completely red but I was able to restore the colour with my 35mm scanner and some help from Photoshop,” says John. “The card game shows, I think, Martin Jerry ’55 and Gary Goldthorpe ’55, second and third from the left respectively,” says John. Can you help us identify the students in these pictures? Email us at alumni@utschools.ca. 32

THE ROOT • Spring 2013

University of Toronto Schools

Published on Apr 17, 2018

The Root - Spring 2013

Published on Apr 17, 2018

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