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SWATRIDGE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-03-09 published
SWATRIDGE, Ann Elizabeth (née AKHURST)
Passed away peacefully, after a brief illness, on March 5, 2006, at Markham Stouffville Hospital, two days prior to her 91st birthday. Ann (née AKHURST,) is predeceased by her beloved husband Fred. She will be sadly missed by her daughter Maureen and her husband Jim, her two sons, Robert and David and his wife Wenda, her grandchildren, Christopher and his wife Dawn, Daniel, Andrew, Brent, Matthew, Ross, Roy and his wife Crystal, as well as her great-grandchildren and her many dear Friends and relatives in Toronto and England. Ann will be remembered as a wonderful wife, mother and friend to many with a great wit and zest for life. Her smile could light up a room and all who met Ann were touched by her warmth and caring spirit. Many thanks to the wonderful staff at the Markham Stouffville Hospital for their dedication and support during this difficult period. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, March 11, 2006 at The Simple Alternative Funeral Centre (275 Lesmill Road), 416-441-1580, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to the charity of your choice will be appreciated.

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SWATTON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-04-12 published
SWATTON, Vera
Suddenly at home on Monday, April 10, 2006. Vera, beloved wife of the late Thomas SWATTON. Loving mother of Marilyn JANTZEN, Judith SHUTTLEWORTH and her husband Dave, Garry SWATTON and his wife Janice and Doctor Gordon SWATTON and his wife Mary. Dear grandmother of Susan, Shelley, Bobby, Marty, Rebecca, Gregory and Michael and great-grandmother of Danny, Andrew, Stephen, Bryan, Christopher, Sherry, Jenny and Cierra. Survived by her brother George SMART. Funeral service will be held at the Turner and Porter "Peel" Chapel, 2180 Hurontario St. (Hwy. 10, North of Queen Elizabeth Way) on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 3 o'clock with visitation beginning at 2: 00 p.m. Cremation to follow. For those who wish, memorial donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

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SWATUK o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-11-23 published
SWATUK, Russell Henry
By Larry SWATUK, Page A26
Father, bartender, sportsman. Born June 17, 1928, in Toronto. Died October 21 of cancer in Windsor, Ontario, aged 78.
In my eyes my father was unique. But in many ways, his life is a typical 20th century Canadian success story: A child of the back-alleys of hardnosed Toronto, his early years were shaped by the Great Depression. To his dying day my father hated those floppy "po-boy" caps: they reminded him of hard times.
He led his life, his married life, his family-centred life, in a manner typical of men of his generation: With hope for the future and a belief that things would get better.
Russell was unreservedly an un-hyphenated Canadian. We are a country of immigrants, but in response to the question, "Where do you come from?" my father would always respond: "I am Canadian I come from Canada; where do you think I come from?" and he'd get that ooh-what's-that-bad-smell look on his face.
He was a classic middle-child, born into a big household of five brothers and six sisters. He was the defender, always looking out for his sisters, and his younger brother. He believed we should all get along. Peacemaking came in handy in his line of work, for he tended bar for more than 40 years at our family-run business on the waterfront in Windsor.
He was a bartender non pareil. He stood on no protocol: In his bar, everyone was equal. Like all good bartenders, he liked stories to tell them and to listen to them; he was the persistent teller of bad jokes; he was an entertainer, more than happy to run through his repertoire of yo-yo tricks or to launch into song; he was highly opinionated but well-informed. It is fine to hold opinions but they must rest on facts: My father taught me that.
Throughout his life he maintained a child's curiosity for the world around him. He was a reader, he loved puzzles, daily crosswords, the Discovery Channel -- anything to sharpen the mind. One of the hardest things to witness in the last year or so was Russ's macular degeneration: a life spent absorbing information became bent, cramped, boxed in by his increasing inability to see.
My father was full of fun. He was loud, he was noisy, he was boisterous, he always went one step too far. He laughed from the belly. He partied from the heart. He had good looks, style, charisma and flair. He loved music, in particular jazz piano and big-band swing. He loved to dance and sing. He was most at home in chaos. The more hubbub around him, the more at peace he seemed. This I think must have come from growing up in a household with all those brothers and sisters.
My father was a sportsman. He loved to participate; he loved to watch. In particular, he loved golf and had his moments. He scored two holes-in-one; the second he called "dumb luck." Coming on his 76th birthday, shortly after he'd recovered from an aortic aneurysm, the shot was perhaps dumb luck but Russ was lucky to be alive and, as he said, "to be on the right side of the grass" to swing the club.
My father was a gardener. He loved to watch things grow. More than anything else he was a family man. Russ was a big-hearted man who only ever gave us support, options, a lesson, a leg-up, a wise word, a stern look, an ice cream, a hug and a kiss, to help us on our way. And he loved his wife, Winnie, openly, unabashedly, unequivocally to his dying day. He was a life-long romantic, and reserved his romance for my mother alone.
To be sure, Russell SWATUK was a product of his times. But within the tight confines of the circumstances of the world, the choices he made, it seems to me, were good ones.
He was 78.4 years old: an average Canadian to the end.
Larry SWATUK is Russell's son.

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SWAYNE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-03-04 published
McKAY, Ralph George
Entered into rest, at the Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay, on Wednesday, March 1, 2006, at the age of 61. Ralph was the beloved husband of Betty McKAY. Loving father of Lisa and her husband Danny GAFFNEY, James McKAY and his wife Tanya SWAYNE, and step-father of Evelyn and her husband Michael LAFRENIERE, Ted MORRIS and his wife Stephanie HINDMARSH, and Stephen MORRIS. Dear grandfather of Joshua McKAY and Hannah HINDMARSH. Ralph will be remembered by his brother Jack McKAY and his wife Marilyn, and brother-in-law Dr. Hugh BARR. Predeceased by his sister Lillian Ann BARR. Fondly remembered by his many nieces and nephews and Friends. Visitation at the Mackey Funeral Home, 33 Peel Street, Lindsay (705-328-2721), on Wednesday, March 8th from 12 noon until time of complete Funeral Service in the Chapel at 3: 00 p.m. Interment to follow cremation. If desired, memorial donations to the Lung Association, Kawartha Pine Ridge Region would be appreciated by the family.

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SWAYZE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-04-24 published
KERN, Doctor Rolf Robert
On the evening of Friday, April 21, 2006, Rolf succumbed to heart failure and passed away peacefully at Saint Michael's Hospital in Toronto. After thirteen years battling prostate cancer and five years post kidney failure, his strength could endure no more for his 78 years. Predeceased in 1998 by Inge, his wife of 40 years, Rolf was a loving and devoted father to his three girls Rona and husband Luke O'CONNOR of Los Angeles, Barbara and husband Dougal MacDONALD of Toronto and Petra and husband James SWAYZE of Toronto. His five grandchildren, Elina O'CONNOR, Katrina MacDONALD and Spencer, Olivia and Erika SWAYZE will miss their beloved Opi who leaves a legacy as a caring and conscientious patriarch. Born on August 5, 1927, to Friedrich and Lina in Freiburg, Germany, Rolf and brother Fritz worked the Bakerei Kern before a war-torn Germany saw him imprisoned in a Siberian camp at the age of 18. Before immigrating to Toronto, Canada in 1958 to help spearhead the North American expansion of the Gerling Konzern insurance operations, Rolf completed his PhD in Economics at the University of Freiburg. During his studies, Rolf traveled extensively and was honored as the first German student invited to the United States by the Rotary Club. His business savvy and intelligence earned him the position of President and Director of Gerling Global General and Reinsurance companies where he led the organization to an unprecedented record of 10 straight years of underwriting profit. His passion for beauty in many forms was evident in the rose gardens of his Willowdale home and Muskoka cottage and in his appreciation of music and modern dance. His intuitive investment philosophy saw continued success beyond his retirement where his keen sense for resource stocks and currency trading earned him a following in financial circles. Revered for his wisdom and respected for his strength of character and integrity his greatest attribute was his generosity. As a mentor to future leaders, a helping hand to those in need or the simple gesture of chocolates for the parking attendant, Rolf concerned himself with the well being of others above all. Spiritually, through meditation and yoga, his belief in Buddhist teachings and the reincarnation of the soul will ensure that he will always be among us. 'Life is hard if you take it hard' was his mantra and few people could boast such a robust and fulfilling existence - every day he was with us, Rolf KERN truly lived. Special thanks to Lilia ABOC who was not only a caregiver but a companion to Rolf for many years and whose devotion shone through in his final days. Doctor BAXTER, Nurse Sam and rest of the team deserve credit for making his stay at Saint Michael's so pleasant towards the end. Thanks must also go to the extraordinary group of nurses led by Doctor GOLDSTEIN in the hemodialysis unit of the hospital for their help in sustaining Rolf's life through the past 5 years with kindness and compassion. A celebration of Rolf's life will take place at the Granite Club located at 2350 Bayview Avenue north of Lawrence this Friday, April 28, 2006, from 5: 00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. with a tribute at 6: 30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Hemodialysis Unit, Saint Michael's Hospital expressed in the name of Rolf KERN, would be appreciated.

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SWAYZE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-09-30 published
This Was Johnathon
In November 2003, Johnathon was beaten, thrown down the basement stairs in his Toronto home and stabbed 71 times -- his throat slashed. Yesterday, his mother sobbed as her only remaining child was handed a life sentence for the murder. Another teen, nicknamed Vampire Boy, was also sentenced as an adult for manslaughter
By Timothy APPLEBY, Armina LIGAYA and Hayley MICK, Page A12
Toronto -- For close to three years he was the 12-year-old Toronto boy with no face and only one name, cut and stabbed so ferociously that he drowned in his own blood.
He was simply "Johnathan," his identity shielded because one of the three teenagers accused of slaughtering him was his older brother, 16 at the time. Identifying the brother would have contravened provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act and so "Johnathan," much to the chagrin of his mother, was robbed not just of his life, but also of his identity.
But as sentence was passed yesterday on two of the three accused (the third was acquitted of all charges in February), a Superior Court judge ruled that the horrendous circumstances demanded the killers be dealt with as adults. And so, finally, the veil was lifted and Johnathon Robert MADDEN of Dawes Road, in Toronto's east Danforth area, can be named and seen, as his mother had asked the court.
Likewise unveiled are the two killers, Kevin MADDEN, a hulking, stone-faced figure, now almost 20, and his friend, Timothy FERRIMAN, nicknamed Vampire Boy for his professed fondness for sipping blood.
"The facts are horrific," Mr. Justice David McCOMBS concluded, outlining what he described as "a hideous, senseless crime."
Mr. MADDEN was found guilty of first-degree murder in February and yesterday was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his little brother in the family home, cutting and slicing his face and neck 71 times with a butcher knife, severing both his voice box and his carotid artery.
Mr. MADDEN was also convicted of trying to murder his stepfather, Ralston CHAMPAGNIE, who was attacked with a knife and a baseball bat when he returned home that same afternoon in November of 2003. For that, he received a concurrent 10-year prison term, less three years spent in pretrial custody.
Two years of his life sentence will be served in a youth facility and the balance in a federal penitentiary, Judge McCOMBS ruled. Behind bars since the day after Johnathon was slain, he will be eligible to apply for parole in just over seven years.
Like all lifers, Mr. MADDEN will be under supervision for the rest of his days, if, or when, he goes free. He is not necessarily beyond all hope, the judge said.
In keeping with his icy demeanour throughout the trial, Mr. MADDEN showed not a shred of emotion yesterday. Mr. FERRIMAN, now 18 and convicted of manslaughter for his role in Johnathon's death, was slightly more animated, glancing around at the packed courtroom where his father, Timothy, sat.
Unlike Mr. MADDEN, Mr. FERRIMAN addressed the court during the sentencing hearing, apologizing for what he had done. The judge said yesterday he found the remorse of the "deeply disturbed" young man to be credible.
Mr. FERRIMAN did not stab the boy but he handed Mr. MADDEN the murder weapon and he helped move Johnathon's body.
On top of time served, Mr. FERRIMAN must spend two years less a day in the youth prison system -- in which he is said to have made significant rehabilitative progress -- followed by three years probation.
The judge's comments during the trial were laced with sympathy for the MADDEN family's ordeal of having one son murder another.
But for both prosecution and defence, the case was unusually taxing.
The first trial was aborted midway through jury deliberations after postings on a vampire-related Internet site -- the same one patronized by Montreal's Dawson College killer -- cast doubt on the veracity of a teenaged girl who was the Crown's key witness.
Fourteen years old at the time, the girl had tape-recorded a telephone call in which the two killers had bragged of plans to wipe out Mr. MADDEN's family, beginning with Johnathon. Less than an hour later, with the house vandalized and smashed up, Johnathon's 45-kilogram (100-pound) body was stuffed in a basement crawl space as the three accused awaited Mr. CHAMPAGNIE's return.
All were arrested within 24 hours.
Mr. MADDEN never disputed killing his brother, who "adored" him, their mother, Joanne CHAMPAGNIE, said in a heart-wrenching victim-impact statement.
Missing throughout the trial, however, was any persuasive insight into how Mr. MADDEN's rage boiled to such a peak that he wanted to annihilate his family.
After the verdicts, emotions were mixed.
Lead prosecutor Hank GOODY, who argued strenuously for adult sentences, declined comment.
But Mr. MADDEN's lawyer, Robert NUTTALL, who sought to have his client sentenced as a youth, said he would appeal the ruling.
"I'm disappointed for Kevin, everybody agrees that Kevin is a very troubled fellow," he said. "Kevin desperately needs treatment. And unfortunately, he's not going to get it."
He described Mr. MADDEN as a "deeply disturbed young man" -- not the psychopath perceived by Doctor Ian SWAYZE, a psychiatrist who examined him at length -- who would benefit from treatment within the youth justice system. "If he doesn't get treatment, he will remain a high risk to reoffend. The issue is, where's he going to get the treatment? It sounds like the [penitentiary] is not the place to get it."
John DENNIS, Mr. FERRIMAN's lawyer, called the past three years "a roller coaster ride" and said he, too, would appeal the decision to sentence the young men as adults.
Ms. CHAMPAGNIE said nothing.
Dressed in a ribbed beige sweater and dark pants and flanked by supporters, she started dabbing at her eyes as she took her seat in the first row, the same place she occupied for each day of the sentencing hearing, listening attentively to Judge McCOMBS.
Each time he alluded to the brutal murder, tears flowed, and when he described how Mr. FERRIMAN helped move the younger boy's body, she held her eyes tightly shut.
Talk of Mr. MADDEN's thoughts elicited a different reaction.
"[Kevin] has repeatedly stated that he has never loved anyone, and has never felt love from anyone," the judge said.
Ms. CHAMPAGNIE looked down and shook her head.
And when the judge told the court that Mr. MADDEN blames his mother for not protecting him, she again shook her head.
She didn't react when Mr. MADDEN's sentence was announced.
But she burst into tears when Judge McCOMBS offered his condolences to her family.
She wanted Johnathon's identity revealed, she told the trial earlier, because she wanted him to be remembered -- to have a face.
When she realized yesterday the publication ban could be lifted, she exhaled a sigh of relief.
Homicide squad Detective Sergeant Terry WARK, who became close to the family throughout their ordeal, said later that Ms. CHAMPAGNIE was content with the outcome and still wants to be in Mr. MADDEN's life.
"But she realizes he needs help," Det. Sgt. WARK said. "She's happy that he'll be in a youth facility for the next two years, because he has been getting a lot of help in there."
The judge's ruling was fair, he said. "He was very compassionate to the family, but I think his sentence today was very helpful to the two boys, and it also gets across the message of deterrence."
Dr. SWAYZE also voiced approval.
Mr. MADDEN, he said, is "salvageable to the extent that he's relatively young, and he hasn't had a lifetime of entrenched antisocial attitudes."
Johnathon and Kevin's biological father, also named Kevin MADDEN and estranged from Ms. CHAMPAGNIE since 1993, had no comment on the ruling.
After the sentencing, the brothers' aunt, Wendy EBERHARDT, read a statement on behalf of her family.
"We are relieved to see an end to the trial," she said. "We are pleased that Kevin and Tim are going to get help with their problems. We're relieved to have Johnathon's full name released, so that we can now properly memorialize him."
'BF's 4-ever'
He'd grown up building forts, hurling mud pies with his Friends and playing Little League.
Now he was 12, and larger horizons beckoned.
His voice was beginning to break, he'd started junior high and girls were on his mind.
His best friend's grandmother recalled the fair, blue-eyed boy plunking down at her kitchen table on a November day, three years ago, and musing about a crush. Where should he take her for dinner? he wondered.
None of it would come to pass.
A few weeks later, Johnathon MADDEN was ambushed and stabbed to death by his older brother Kevin, becoming Toronto's 59th homicide victim of 2003.
Until yesterday, he could not be identified, because his name would reveal those of his accused killers.
"He just had a sweetness about him," said the grandmother of his best friend, Nathan. "We miss him."
Johnathon Robert MADDEN was born in Toronto on May 11, 1991, the second son of Joanne and Kevin MADDEN.
The pair separated when Kevin was 7 and Johnathon 3. Their mother remarried soon after the divorce.
The court heard that while a teenaged Kevin had problems in class, at home and with the law, Johnathon led a happy childhood.
"Johnathon was a compassionate boy. He was worried about what was going on in his family. And loved his brother," said the woman, who did not want to be identified.
Johnathon and Nathan lived blocks apart in North York and, for six years, they were inseparable. They built forts, attended Raptors games with Johnathon's family and revelled in nicki-nicki-nine-door "missions."
One weekend, they dotted Nathan's grandmother's yard with holes and had mud fights.
The summer they were 9, they had a marathon number of sleepovers that lasted three weeks.
On the last day of his life, Johnathon walked Nathan home after a snowball fight.
Hours later, the boy was slashed to death by his brother in the basement of his family home.
Nathan, 10 at the time of the killing, testified at two trials held for his friend's accused killers. The first ended in a mistrial.
Johnathon's mother, now Ms. CHAMPAGNIE, wants her son to be remembered, and created a memorial website (http://www.johnathon-madden.memory-of.com). In it, Johnathon is remembered as the boy with the big smile who loved tacos, saltfish and making people laugh.
His aunt, Margo ANDERSON, wrote: "To my nephew, may you enjoy skateboarding with the angels."
A classmate wrote: "You always were the funny one in the class."
And Nathan STEVENSON, Johnathon's co-conspirator, mud-fight rival and sleepover buddy, wrote that he misses his best friend, signing it "BF's 4-ever."
Hayley Mick
'You just don't understand'
During the three years that homicide investigator Detective Sergeant Terry WARK helped shape the prosecution case against Kevin MADDEN, the accused responded to his many questions just once.
"I said to him, 'Kevin, this was your brother. How could you do this?' " the policeman recalled.
"And he said, 'You don't understand. It built up. You just don't understand.' That's the only thing he ever said to me, he never said another word."
Blond, tall and broad shouldered -- he weighed about 230 pounds when he killed his young brother -- Mr. MADDEN appeared to listen carefully during his two murder trials, occasionally peering around the room with his cold, flat eyes.
But he never testified and only once did he display any emotion.
That was when his mother, Joanne CHAMPAGNIE, described her pain and her love for both of her sons.
Her words left Mr. MADDEN sobbing quietly, rocking in his chair in the prisoners' box.
To the end, the teenaged killer was an enigma.
Mr. MADDEN's history -- moving from house to house after his parents' marriage failed, habitual truancy at 10 different schools, alcohol abuse that started at the age of 12, sharing his home with a stepfather he hated -- offered some grim early warning signs.
When he killed his 12-year-old brother, he was already on probation over threats he had made to schoolmates
He also threatened to blow up one school. He was suspended at least six times from the last high school he attended.
Some observers -- including the judge who sentenced him to life imprisonment yesterday -- nonetheless see a glimmer of hope, because of his youth.
So does his biological father.
"He's got ambition now," Kevin MADDEN Sr. told the court after visiting his son in custody. "He wants to get good grades, wants to be productive, he seems like a totally different person."
Prosecutor Hank GOODY saw things entirely differently.
"Mr. MADDEN is now the same person psychologically as he was November 23, 2003," he told the court. "And is likely to remain the same psychologically for the foreseeable future."
And forensic psychiatrist Doctor Ian SWAYZE painted a picture that was alarming.
"He really is sort of a smouldering volcano, with steam coming out of the vents," he testified.
"These explosions of anger are not out of character, not aberrant. There's a cascade towards a terrible event… a path towards disaster."
Timothy APPLEBY and Armina LIGAYA

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