"KWA" 2005 Obituary

KWAN  KWARCIAK  KWASNICA  KWASNICKI  KWASNIEWICZ  KWASNIEWSKI 

KWAN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-09-29 published
Migrant workers killed by car while biking to Delhi in dark
By Monte SONNENBERG, Special to The Free Press
Otterville -- Investigators probing a collision near Delhi that killed two migrant workers and left a third with serious injuries are probing the role vehicle speed and the absence of bicycle reflectors may have played in the crash.
William BELL, 54, Desmond McNEIL, 39, and Fred SMITH, 35, were cycling on Highway 59 northwest of Delhi about 7: 50 p.m. Tuesday when they were hit from behind by a car, Norfolk Ontario Provincial Police said.
BELL and McNEIL were killed. SMITH was taken to London Health Sciences Centre.
BELL, McNEIL and SMITH were part of an eight-man crew from Jamaica working at the Kwan farm near Otterville.
"This morning, before they started their work day, we took some time and said some words about the injured and killed and had a moment of silence," Arthur KWAN said last night. "It's at a time like this when it really hits you because you realize they're not coming back. It was a total shock. I watched last night as they rode out the lane."
The men were riding toward Delhi in the dark on bicycles when they were hit by a car near the intersection of Mall Road, police said.
The car suffered extensive damage. Its driver, Chris MORRIS, 26, of Simcoe, was admitted to Norfolk General Hospital in Simcoe for observations after showing signs of distress, police said.
BELL had been employed on the Kwan farm for the last eight years. The farm near Otterville specializes in growing Chinese vegetables.
KWAN described BELL as a hard worker who was always seeking extra hours to support his large family.
"He was always a good-natured guy," he said. "You could always joke around with him. He was a dependable, go-to guy who did his best in the field."
McNEIL often spoke of a woman in Jamaica, but never shared her name, KWAN said.
He frequently rode into Delhi to call her because she was worried about him.
McNEIL went into Delhi Monday -- the day before he died -- and bought his sweetheart a fancy necklace. KWAN said McNEIL was likely cycling into Delhi to call her again when the collision occurred.
The KWAN family and the rest of the Jamaican crew travelled to London last night to check on SMITH, who is expected to recover.
The Jamaican Liaison Office took possession of the affected workers' belongings yesterday. They will be held in trust pending their return to next-of-kin. The liaison office is arranging to fly the bodies back to Jamaica.

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-09-10 published
ASHBOURNE, A.▼ Bernice▼ (née ROBERTS)
In her 101st year, passed away peacefully in the presence of her daughter Audrey, son Howard, and granddaughter Cynthia CASKEY at St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto on September 7, 2005. Born in Twillingate, Newfoundland on May 24, 1905. Bernice ROBERTS married Thomas ASHBOURNE of Twillingate in 1925. Survived by children Gordon ASHBOURNE and wife Marilyn▼ of Twillingate, Howard ASHBOURNE and wife Mary Louise, Audrey ASHBOURNE of Weston, Ontario and Christine CASKEY and husband Peter of Ottawa. Loved grandmother to Wayne ASHBOURNE (Dyan), Sheila ASHBOURNE, Peter ASHBOURNE (Peggy,) Cynthia CASKEY, Elizabeth▼ CASKEY (Shane EDMONDS,) Thomas ASHBOURNE (Linda TUCK- CHAPMAN), Victoria ASHBOURNE (Greg CROKE), Mary ASHBOURNE- SMITH (Richard SMITH), Anne ASHBOURNE (Allan CLEMMENS), Alexandra ASHBOURNE, Robert ASHBOURNE (Tin Wei KWAN), and Kate EXCOFFON (Simon.▼) Dear great-grandmother to Terri WILLIAMS (Glen,) Shalon ARMSTRONG, Melanie▼ and Brian ASHBOURNE, Robert and Samuel ASHBOURNE, Candace▼ and Claire CASKEY, Jessica, Thomas▼ and Sean CROKE, Brendan▼ and Lauren SMITH, Logan ASHBOURNE, Nathaniel and Matthew EXCOFFON and Nicholas EDMONDS. She▼ will be greatly missed by her nephews and nieces, other family and Friends. She was an exceptional person who in her calm, gentle and common sense way taught, helped and loved everyone, who came in contact with her over the years. Memorial Service at the Ward Funeral Home, 2035 Weston Rd. (north of Lawrence Ave.), Weston, on Saturday, September 10, 2005. Visitation 1-4 p.m. Service 4 p.m. Interment North Side United Church Cemetery, Twillingate, Newfoundland. Donations for an Ashbourne Scholarship to be set up at the J.M. Olds Collegiate Twillingate, Newfoundland. in memory of Thomas and Bernice ASHBOURNE, and can be sent to Mary ASHBOURNE- SMITH, Chartered Accountant, 69 Cheritan Ave., Toronto, Ontario M4R 1S7.

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-03-10 published
YUEN, John (April 10, 1923-March 8, 2005)
With love and sorrow we announce the passing of John YUEN, in his 82nd year. Loving husband of Cynthia. Beloved father of Ingrid (Clifford), Margaret, Monica (Otello), Susanne (Mark), Yvonne (How Chin), Elaine (Ed) and Gordon (Lena). He will be sadly missed and remembered by his grandchildren Belinda (Ilich), Janelle (Ariel), Jacqueline, Lori, Mark, Emily, Sophie, Michael, Ashley and Joshua. Dear brother of Edward (Grace) and sister-in-law Elizabeth. Loving uncle of Theresa, Charmaine, Liz, Lisa and Derek. Sadly missed by family and Friends. The family will receive Friends at the Neweduk Funeral Home "Mississauga Chapel", 1981 Dundas St. W. (1 block east of Erin Mills Parkway) from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, March 13, 2005. A Funeral Mass will be held at Merciful Redeemer Roman Catholic Church, 2775 Erin Centre Blvd. (at Glen Erin Dr.) on Monday, March 14 at 10 a.m. Interment Glen Oaks Memorial Gardens. Sincere thanks to Dr. KWAN and the staff at Trillium Oncology Department and to Dr. VANEK and the nurses in Intensive Care Unit and 4th Floor at St. Joseph's Health Centre and to Dr. SUM. If desired, donations to the Trillium Health Centre, St. Joseph's Health Centre or the Canadian Cancer Society would be greatly appreciated by the family. Neweduk Funeral Home, 905-828-8000 www.neweduk.com

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-03-20 published
CHOW, Shui-Fong Wong
On March 18th, 2005, in her 94th year. Predeceased by her husband Kai-Sun CHOW. Loving mother to Cecilia ING (Jack,) King Sung CHAU, King Yiu CHOW (Rui Li), King Kai CHOW (deceased), Katherine HONG (George,) Diana AU- YEUNG (Fung Ying,) King Yin CHOW (Tai PING,) Ivy KWAN (Benjamin,) Maria CHOW. Proud grandmother to Sheila ING, Wayne ING, Billy CHAU, Thomas CHAU, Raymond CHOW, Wayne CHOW, Alan HONG, Eddie HONG, Winnie WONG, Victor AU- YEUNG, Randy CHOW, Edmond CHOW, Anita KWAN, Anthony KWAN, Lillie KWOK, Michael KWOK, Vincent KWOK, and great-grandmother to Charisse HONG and Kristen WONG. Predeceased by her parents Shun Kun CHAN and Git Nam WONG, and her brother Ping Fay WONG. Friends may call at the Trull "North Toronto" Funeral Home and Cremation Centre, 2704 Yonge Street (5 blocks south of Lawrence) on Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral service will take place in the chapel Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock. Interment Pine Hills Cemetery.

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-04-18 published
SISCA, Frank " Francesco" (1925-2005)
It is with great sadness that the family announces the passing of a dear and loving husband, father, nonno, brother, brother-in-law, and uncle, on Saturday, April 16, 2005 in his 80th year, at the Trillium Health Centre, Mississauga, Ontario. Frank was a devoted and beloved husband of Ida (née AQUINO) for 57 years. Loving father of daughter Rose, son Joe and daughter-in-law Lorna, and daughter Marie and son-in-law Nick. Proud and cherished nonno of Julie, Jason, Paul, Ashley, and Danielle. Predeceased by father Giuseppe and mother Rosina (née DE MARIA.) Loving brother of Teresa and brother-in-law, the late Eugenio SIRIANNI. Brother-in-law of Carmelina and the late Domenico CLAUSI, Mariannina and Frank BIAFORE, Adele AQUINO, Emilia and Felice PUPO, the late Rosaria and Aldo PUPO, Giovanni and Maria AQUINO, Vincenzo and Carmela AQUINO, Virginia and Vittorio SCAGLIONE, Biagio and Anna AQUINO. Sadly missed by numerous nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, and Friends. Visitations will take place at Scoatt Funeral Home, 420 Dundas Street East, Mississauga (one block west of Cawthra Rd.), 905-272-4040, on Monday and Tuesday evenings from 6: 00-9:00 p.m. A Funeral Mass will take place Wednesday, April 20, 2005 at 1: 00 p.m. in St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 921 Flagship Drive, Mississauga, Ontario. Entombment will be at Glen Oaks Memorial Gardens, Oakville, Ontario. As an expression of sympathy, donations to the Trillium Health Centre - Oncology Department or Cancer Society. The family would like to express sincere appreciation to Dr. Soheil SAEEDI and Dr. Terry KWAN and to the kind and dedicated nurses at the Trillium Health Centre.

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-06-03 published
BIRD, John McLean
Peacefully on Wednesday, June 1st, 2005, at the Extendicare, Halton Hills. John in his 95th year, dearly treasured always by his wife of 54 years Ismey KEAN and cherished father and grandfather of Edward and Maribeth BIRD, Graham, Thomas and Katherine of Georgetown, Grace and Lee WHITTINGTON, Jennifer, Gregory and Christopher of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and Carolyn and Ming KWAN, Stephen and Heather of Port Credit, Ontario. John is fondly remembered by his nieces and nephews and many Friends. Predeceased by his parents Thomas BIRD and Sarah McLean BIRD and sisters and brothers Effie, Norman, Hector, Milton, and Elsie. Friends will be received at the J.S. Jones and son Funeral Home. 11582 Trafalgar Road., north of Maple Ave., Georgetown, 905-877-3631 on Friday from 7-9 p.m. Funeral service will be held in the Chapel on Saturday, June 4th, 2005 at 11: 00 a.m. Inmemory contributions to the Georgetown District Memorial Hospital Foundation would be appreciated. To send expressions of sympathy visit www.jsjonesandsonfuneralhome.com

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-06-28 published
ENG, Harry Tse Chow
Peacefully with family by his side at Toronto General Hospital on Sunday, June 26, 2005 at the age of 55. Loving and dedicated father of Andrew, Emily and Alastair. Sadly missed by his parents Jim and Pui KWAN. Dear brother of Wendy, Susan (Peter,) Elizabeth (Kaveh) and David. Harry will be lovingly remembered by Mary DEAN, nephew Michael and nieces Catherine and Mahtaab. Friends may call at the Turner and Porter Yorke Chapel, 2357 Bloor St. W., at Windermere, east of the Jane subway on Wednesday from 4-8 p.m. Funeral Service will be held at Little Trinity Anglican Church, 425 King St. E., Toronto (King and Parliament) on Thursday, June 30, 2005 at 10: 30 a.m. Interment Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-07-09 published
KIELB, Eva
Peacefully passed away on Thursday, July 7, 2005 at Trillium Health Centre at the age of 75. Beloved wife of 56 years to Joseph. Dear mother to John and his wife Cathy of London and Christine and her husband Waldemar LOPATECKI. Adoring Babcia to Michael-Jon LOPATECKI. A special thank you to Dr. KWAN and the nursing staff on 4B. Friends will be received at Lynett Funeral Home, 3299 Dundas Street West (one block east of Runnymede Road), Saturday and Sunday from 7-9 p.m. Funeral Mass at Saint Mary's Polish Parish, Monday, July 11, 2005 at 10: 00 a.m. Interment at Mount Hope Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society and Trillium Health Centre.

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-09-09 published
ASHBOURNE, A.▲ Bernice▲ (née ROBERTS)
In her 101st year, passed away peacefully in the presence of her daughter Audrey, son Howard, and granddaughter Cynthia CASKEY at St. Joseph's Health Centre Toronto on September 7, 2005. Born in Twillingate, Newfoundland on May 24, 1905. Bernice ROBERTS married Thomas ASHBOURNE of Twillingate in 1925. Survived by children Gordon ASHBOURNE and wife Marilyn▲ of Twillingate, Howard ASHBOURNE and wife Mary Louise, Audrey ASHBOURNE of Weston, Ontario and Christine CASKEY and husband Peter of Ottawa. Loved grandmother to Wayne ASHBOURNE (Dyan), Sheila ASHBOURNE, Peter ASHBOURNE (Peggy,) Cynthia CASKEY, Elizabeth▲ CASKEY (Shane EDMONDS,) Thomas ASHBOURNE (Linda TUCK- CHAPMAN), Victoria ASHBOURNE (Greg CROKE), Mary ASHBOURNE- SMITH (Richard SMITH), Anne ASHBOURNE (Allan CLEMMENS), Alexandra ASHBOURNE, Robert ASHBOURNE (Tin Wei KWAN), and Kate EXCOFFON (Simon.▲) Dear great-grandmother to Terri WILLIAMS (Glen,) Shalon ARMSTRONG, Melanie▲ and Brian ASHBOURNE, Robert and Samuel ASHBOURNE, Candace▲ and Claire CASKEY, Jessica, Thomas▲ and Sean CROKE, Brendan▲ and Lauren SMITH, Logan ASHBOURNE and Nathaniel and Matthew EXCOFFON. She▲ will be greatly missed by her nephews and nieces, other family and Friends. She was an exceptional person who in her calm, gentle and common sense way taught, helped and loved everyone, who came in contact with her over the years. Memorial Service at the Ward Funeral Home, 2035 Weston Rd. (north of Lawrence Ave.), Weston, on Saturday, September 10, 2005. Visitation 1-4 p.m. Service 4 p.m. Interment North Side United Church Cemetery, Twillingate, Newfoundland. Donations for an Ashbourne Scholarship to be set up at the J.M. Olds Collegiate Twillingate, Newfoundland in memory of Thomas and Bernice ASHBOURNE, can be sent to Mary ASHBOURNE- SMITH, Chartered Accountant, 69 Cheritan Ave., Toronto, Ontario M4R 1S7.

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KWAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-10-19 published
FISHLOCK, Joan Margaret
Passed away peacefully after a courageous battle with cancer at the Trillium Health Centre on Monday, October 17, 2005 at the age of 69. Loving wife of Colin. Most marvelous caring mother of Paul. Devoted sister of Patricia and her husband Christopher. Joan will be fondly missed and remembered by her nieces, nephews and many Friends in Canada and England. Colin, Paul and Patricia would like to thank Dr. KWAN and the oncology staff and the medical staff of ward 4B for their support and care at the Trillium Health Centre - Mississauga. Friends may call at the Turner and Porter Butler Chapel, 4933 Dundas St. W., Etobicoke (between Islington and Kipling Aves.) on Saturday, October 22, 2005 from 12 noon until the Service of Remembrance in the Chapel at 1: 00 p.m. If desired, donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated.

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KWARCIAK o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-02-17 published
NILES, Donald Mackenzie
Peacefully, after a lengthy illness, at Parkwood Hospital, on Wednesday February 16, 2005. Donald Mackenzie NILES, was embraced by the arms of God, at the age of 80 years. Beloved husband of Betty NILES (GARDNER). Predeceased by 2 wives, Betty NILES (BARNARD) (1981) and Jackie NILES (JARVIS) (1997.) Loving father of Larry (Barb) NILES, Roger NILES, Debra HUISMAN, Douglas NILES and Donna Lynn HUNTER. Survived by step-children Barry (Julie) GARDNER, Cheryl (Larry) DAY, Debbie (Cas) KWARCIAK, Diane (Glen) DESCHUTTER, Cindy (Dan) ULRICH and Ted and Thomas FRENCH. Dear grandfather of several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Brother of Lorne (Jean) NILES, Edward (Etta) NILES and Marrian BUCHNER. Nephew of Mildred NILES. Predeceased by grandchildren April Leigh HUISMAN (1993) and Shawn HUISMAN (2003.) A Celebration of Don's Life will be held at the Evans Funeral Home, 648 Hamilton Rd. (1 block east of Egerton), on Friday February 18, 2005, at 1: 00 p.m. (Visitation 1 hr. prior to service) with Reverend Darrell SHAULE officiating. Interment in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. Donations to the Alzheimer Society or Parkwood Hospital would be appreciated by the family. Online condolences can be expressed at www.evansfh.ca “Rejoice with us in the return of a loving spirit through the hands of God, with whom he placed his trust and where he will be met by God's loving angels, Betty, Jackie, April and Shawn.&rdquo A tree will be planted as a living memorial to Mr. NILES.

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KWASNICA o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-02-03 published
EDWARDS, Florence▼ Anna▼ Grace▼
Suddenly, yet peacefully at London Health Sciences Centre University Campus▼ on February 2nd, 2005, Mrs. Florence Anna Grace EDWARDS of London in her 86th year. Beloved wife of the late Mr. Charles Norman EDWARDS. Loving▼ mother of Gary EDWARDS and his wife Sharon,▼ and the late Thomas Earl EDWARDS. Dear grandmother of Jeffrey EDWARDS and his wife Susy,▼ and Wayne EDWARDS. Great-grandmother▼ of Dylan. Also survived by her sister Beth KWASNICA, and brothers Harold and Earl GALE, all of London. She will be sadly missed by many nieces, nephews, and Friends. Visitation in the Lloyd R. Needham Funeral Chapel, (520 Dundas Street, London) on Friday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. where the funeral and committal service will be conducted on Saturday, February 5th, 2005 at 1: 00 p.m. A private interment will be held on Monday at Woodland Cemetery. In memory of Florence, contributions to Saint Mark's Anglican Church or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be greatly appreciated.

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KWASNICA o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-02-04 published
EDWARDS, Florence▲ Anna▲ Grace▲
Suddenly, yet peacefully at London Health Sciences Centre University Campus▲ on February 2nd, 2005, Mrs. Florence Anna Grace EDWARDS of London in her 86th year. Beloved wife of the late Mr. Charles Norman EDWARDS. Loving▲ mother of Gary EDWARDS and his wife Sharon,▲ and the late Thomas Earl EDWARDS. Dear grandmother of Jeffrey EDWARDS and his wife Susy,▲ and Wayne EDWARDS. Great-grandmother▲ of Dylan. Also survived by her sister Beth KWASNICA, and brothers Harold and Earl GALE, all of London. She will be sadly missed by many nieces, nephews, and Friends. Visitation in the Lloyd R. Needham Funeral Chapel, (520 Dundas Street, London) on Friday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. where the funeral and committal service will be conducted on Saturday, February 5th, 2005 at 1: 00 p.m. A private interment will be held on Monday at Woodland Cemetery. In memory of Florence, contributions to Saint Mark's Anglican Church or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be greatly appreciated.

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KWASNICKI o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-06-18 published
LEVASSEUR, Cecile (née RIVAIT)
Peacefully, at Bluewater Health -- C.E.E. Site, Petrolia, on Thursday, June 16, 2005. Cecile LEVASSEUR (née RIVAIT,) 79 years, of Petrolia. Beloved wife of the late Paul (1973). Loving mother of Raymond and Eveline LEVASSEUR of Oil Springs, Marcel and Brenda LEVASSEUR of Sarnia, Pauline and David McCALLUM of Essex, Diane STIERS (Wayne 1998) and Jan KWASNICKI of LaSalle, and Annette and Dave MacKELLAR of Alvinston. Loved grandmother to 15 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Dear sister of Martha and the late Oscar (2000) GOODREAU of Tilbury, Donald and the late Agnes (1994) RIVAIT of Tilbury, the late Gabriel (2001) and Josephine RIVAIT of Petrolia, the late Barnabe (1993) and the late Gladys (2004) RIVAIT, Rosaire and Marguerite RIVAIT of Tilbury, the late Elmer (1968) and Delia RIVAIT of Essex, the late Wilfred (1967) and the late Bernice (2003) RIVAIT, the late Lucille (1971) and the late Elwood (1998) McCALLUM, Stella and the late Harold (1998) HUNTER of Windsor, Louis RIVAIT (Evelyn 1990) and Diane QUENNEVILLE of Tilbury, Annette and Henry DUPLESSIE of Comber, Paul and Marge RIVAIT of Tilbury, and Diane DOZOIS and Bill HUNTER of Tilbury. Visitors will be received on Sunday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Needham-Jay Funeral Home, Petrolia, where prayers will be offered at 7: 00 p.m. The funeral mass will be celebrated at St. Philip's Church, Petrolia, on Monday, June 20, 2005 at 11: 00 a.m. with Fr. Dan VERE as celebrant. Interment in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Wyoming. As expressions of sympathy, memorial donations may be made by cheque to the C.E.E. Hospital Foundation or St. Philip's Church. Memories and condolences may be left online at www.needhamjay.com.

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KWASNIEWICZ o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-05 published
KWASNIEWICZ, Apolonia
Peacefully, at Toronto Western Hospital, on Monday, January 3, 2005, at the age of 88. Dearly loved and never forgotten by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Visitation was held at Turner and Porter Funeral Home, 436 Roncesvalles Ave., on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 from 5-9 p.m. Funeral Mass will be held at St. Casimir's Church, 156 Roncesvalles Ave., on Wednesday, January 5, 2005 at 9 a.m. Interment Park Lawn Cemetery.

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KWASNIEWSKI o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-06-06 published
Terry LITOVITZ, 56: 'Powerhouse' educator
Terry LITOVITZ cared for students
'Really smart' and inevitably right
By Catherine DUNPHY, Obituary Writer
A strong woman. Bold. Intimidating.
That's what everybody said about accountant and educator Terry LITOVITZ.
And not just her students, although everyone who ever took her first-year accounting class during her 25 years at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus came away from them shaking.
She didn't suffer fools or foolish notions. If she thought something was stupid, she said so. And inevitably she was right.
"She was just smart. Really, really smart," said Felicia LITOVITZ, 25, her youngest daughter who works in public relations for a Toronto entertainment conglomerate. Her older daughter, Aviva, 28, is working on her Ph. D. in chemistry at Cornell University. "I always loved her, but I was scared of her too until I was about 10. She was a powerhouse."
LITOVITZ used to tell her daughters, with a grin, that she never wanted to be called nice.
Glen McFARLAND was in LITOVITZ's first-year accounting class 10 years ago. "I was absolutely petrified," he recalled. "The class was intense and she was intimidating."
He remembers LITOVITZ asking who had completed the discussion problem and only about a half dozen raised their hands. "You're wasting my time," she told the rest of the class. "Get out now."
The freshmen were stunned. Nobody moved.
"All right then," LITOVITZ said, "The six of you who completed the problem come with me to my office. We'll talk about it there."
McFARLAND is now a partner with a Scarborough chartered accountancy firm, a member of the university management school's advisory board and a hirer of co-op accounting students just like he once was. He credits LITOVITZ for giving him, as well as hundreds of other accounting students, the grounding they needed for their work.
"Once you got over the fact she was so strict, you realized she was doing it all for you," he said. "Students were always her number one concern."
Most students caught on to her care and commitment to them.
In 1991, they created an award specifically for LITOVITZ for outstanding effort and performance in education, which the University of Toronto Commerce Management Students' Association presented to her. One year later, she was the recipient of the annual Scarborough College Teaching Award for being a "tough but fair and compassionate instructor."
The pupils also named the campus student association room -- the hub of their scholastic life -- after her.
"She made it clear stupidity annoyed her," said her friend and teaching colleague Sandra DAGA. " That's why students were scared of her. When they found out what she was about, they saw her kindness and thoughtfulness. She always gave good advice, if you asked the questions properly and didn't waste her time."
Her office was filled with cards, gifts and doodads from students. As study supervisor, her door was always open -- just leave the small talk behind, though. Widowed 15 years ago when her husband, Howie, died from cancer, she faced her own diagnosis of breast cancer five years later. Until two years ago, she carried on teaching, continuing her supervisory work via telephone and email from her Thornhill home. She was 56 when she died March 6.
"She was critical to the success of the program," said Sandford BORINS, a professor who was hired as department chair in 1990 to build, if not rescue, the management program at the Scarborough campus. At the time there were no full-time professors in the program and he set out to right this. LITOVITZ, who was a certified chartered accountant, and later, the recipient of an M.B.A. taken at night school, was an instructor, the lower status stream within the academic world.
"People in the teaching stream can make a real contribution, if they're as good as her. I learned from Terry that not everybody has to have a Ph. D.," BORINS said. "She was always three steps ahead. There were just a handful of people I could get really good advice from and she was one of them."
"She was impossible to sum up because she was so big," said her daughter Felicia.
Terry LITOVITZ was just 5-foot-2 -- but she had always been extraordinarily driven. Her father, Moishe or Morris KWASNIEWSKI, a paratrooper and war hero with the Polish underground movement, had been a highly ranked Communist civil servant who could give his wife and first daughter a fine home with a grand piano, a fountain in the foyer large enough for Terry to learn to ride a bicycle, a summer place, and a car and driver at their disposal.
But sometime after the Hungarian Revolution he learned he had fallen out of favour with the Communists in Moscow, and fled to Israel where he worked in a factory. In 1960, the family came to Canada, where they owned and operated a series of convenience stores. They worked from 7 in the morning to midnight, seven days a week and it fell to Terry to look after her younger sister Barbara and brother, Bernard, who was born when she was 13.
"My father was incredibly demanding," said Bernard KWASNIEWSKI, who is now an attorney living in San Francisco. "Once Terry came home with a mark of 99 per cent and he wanted to know what happened to the other 1 per cent."
Luckily, his daughter was extraordinarily bright, breezing through high school and easily attaining a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Toronto in 1972.
Still, she told her own daughters she always hated school and opted to study chartered accountancy instead of law or medicine because it necessitated fewer years of study.
For three years, she worked in the Toronto office of Coopers and Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) where she was the only female auditor. Her brother remembers her telling him about one company dinner at which she sat beside the chairman and was the only female in the room as well as the only person who didn't have a cigar by their plate.
"Being Terry, she complained loudly, and was given a cigar, which she smoked," Bernard said. She had been smoking Gauloise cigarettes after a trip to France.
She dropped out of the corporate fast track for a job doing in-house education, research and recruitment for a Toronto accounting firm, where she learned that she loved teaching. A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, she taught part-time at York University, University of Toronto and George Brown College. She had been on the faculty of University of Toronto at Scarborough since 1980.
While taking her M.B.A. at York, and getting the top grade point average of her year, at the same time she made sure she was available for her daughters' school field trips at Rockford Public School.
When she was diagnosed with cancer, she made it her mission to survive long enough to ensure her daughters grew into strong women, her brother said. She was in remission for eight years and even took a long-awaited trip four years ago to Australia and New Zealand where she went water rafting, jet boating and hiking.
But then doctors told her the cancer had returned and had spread onto her spine. Felicia transferred from McGill University to the University of Toronto to spend time with her mother. "We were close. I called her every day and saw her most weekends," she said. " It was important for me to make the most of the time we had."
She told Felicia she wanted to give her enough advice for the next 10 years of her life, and her daughter believes she did.
LITOVITZ used her remaining time to completely organize her affairs. "I was probably the world's most redundant executor," her brother said. "She never fell apart. She just kept going."
One of her last acts involved her students. She created the Terry Litovitz Merit Award in Management with an endowment that has since been augmented by contributions from her former faculty colleagues, staff at the university, Friends and family.
Officially, the award will be given to a student entering the bachelor of business administration program straight from high school with excellent marks and who has demonstrated leadership skills.
"We know what Terry wants," said Daga. "It's to go to someone who appreciates that this course prepares you for a profession and that it is not just to get easy marks. There's a difference."
The first recipient will be announced later this month.

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