Niels HANSEN

DR. NIELS HENRY HANSEN May 9, 1935 - April 10, 2018 Unexpectedly on April 10, Dr. Niels Henry Hansen, nearing his 83rd birthday, while working out. He would want everyone to know that his regular gym visits greatly extended his life and that this coincidence should not be regarded as necessarily causal. Beloved family physician; respected professor of Family Medicine at Dalhousie University and Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University; champion and trailblazer in many challenging features and varieties of health care; Order of Canada nominee; audiophile; and, photographer. Constant learning meant he was continually reinventing his lifework in medicine. His care never flagged, as if he were directly responsible for the well-being of each person he encountered: a responsibility he wore with humility, competence and focus. After graduation from Dalhousie and time in the military, Niels co-founded the Dartmouth Medical Centre. He delivered many, many babies when house calls were common and years later, delivered those babies' babies too. When he returned home and Jean asked after each baby, he always replied with utmost sincerity, 'It was beautiful. The most beautiful baby.' He taught at Dalhousie's Department of Family Medicine and was a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He taught Family Medicine at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University for two years, while earning a Masters' degree in Education. After his return to teaching at Dalhousie and a one-year sabbatical at the University of Manchester, he moved on to pioneer development of Palliative Care at the Freeport Campus of the Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario. Niels was first and foremost a family physician with a need for continuous learning and unrepressed tendencies towards teaching. He loved people above all, and afforded both dignity and respect to each and every person he encountered. Those whose lives he touched, those he helped, are simply without number. He involved himself in all communities in which he lived and moved. Much was done in the background. Very quietly. Very lovingly. Niels is survived by the love of his life, Jean; by son, Paul (Jane); and daughters, Karen Martin (Fred) and Lynn Hornacek (Peter); and by his five grandchildren, (Victoria Scott (Glenn), Devon Hansen (Jonathan Hebert), Heather Hansen, Benjamin Martin and Olivia Hornacek); and one great-grandchild (William Scott). His quiet contentment, deep pride and beaming joy in being surrounded by happy, loving family will be forever treasured, and constantly renewed by us all. Niels was a prolific philanthropist and passionate about the value of Family Medicine. In lieu of flowers, donations are welcome to Dalhousie Family Medicine or the charity of the donor's choice. Private cremation. A visitation will be held on Sunday, April 15 from 1-4 p.m. in the event room of the apartment complex at 38 William Carson Ct., Toronto (near Yonge at the 401), M2P 2H1