Bruce DARLINGTON

BRUCE DARLINGTON (Thomas Richard Bruce Darlington) Born August 28, 1942 Bruce Darlington died in Toronto on December 15, 2021, having been diagnosed with inoperable localized pancreatic cancer on July 27, 2021. He died at home choosing Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) with his wife, Victoria Skelton (Vicki) and daughter, Emily Darlington, holding him and loving him. We wish to thank everyone from the Dorothy Ley Hospice Community Support Program for caring for Bruce in our home. Our palliative care team was outstanding, and we wish to express our special thanks to Dr. Keith Johnstone and Olga Galychkina, as well as the timely and generous support of Dr. Joshua Tepper. Bruce is predeceased by his parents, Blake and Louise Darlington, and by his brother and sister Robert Darlington and Janet Darlington, all of Parry Sound. He is survived by his wife Vicki and daughter Emily; by his brother and sister-in-law, James B. Darlington and Helen Darlington, and his nieces and nephews: Gordon Darlington (Heather), Mary Darlington (Peter), and Laura Darlington, all of the Parry Sound region; Alan Darlington (Gerarda) of Guelph, and Spence Darlington (Elizabeth) of Williams Lake, B.C.. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Leslie Strupat (John) and niece Christine Strupat (Nicholas) all of London ON and by his nephew Nicholas Strupat (Feaven) of Toronto. Bruce was a University of Waterloo graduate where he studied mathematics under Professor Ralph Gordon Stanton, a pioneer in mathematics and computing education. Bruce also studied physics, another lifetime love that introduced him to the physicist Richard P. Feynman, whose iconoclastic approach and passion for science became Bruce's own. At Waterloo Bruce met his best friend of 60 years, retired meteorologist Paul Galbraith (Nova Scotia). Bruce went on to the University of Toronto, where he worked as a systems analyst and provided computing support for researchers, retiring over twenty-five years later. From his knowledge of Fortran, the original programing language for mathematicians, to writing his own fractal generating programs, Bruce saw beauty in mathematics and physics. He was imbued with the twin spirits of curiosity and creativity which made for lively conversations and great jokes. Being a reader with a wide breadth of knowledge, both historical and current, he would discuss any topic with quiet intelligence and abundant dry wit. Bruce loved music from a young age. He introduced the people he loved to jazz greats such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane, discovered when he was still in high school, his escape from Don Messer's Jubilee. He and Vicki, married in 1982, spent Toronto weekends on Yonge Street in Sam the Record Man and A&A Records, expeditions of discovery that built an eclectic record collection. From Arvo Pärt, John Adams, and the Bulgarian Women's Choir to Ali Farka Touré and the Grateful Dead, Bruce listened, loved and shared it all. We will never let him go. In Bruce's words--witty, wise and most certainly fun … Now I'm paddling through McDougall Where everyone's old and frugal And living entirely on their own Oh, it's very Anglophillic, Peaceful & idyllic … The very place I once did call home. O but in my sweet canoe I dream only dear of you And the time we spent together During all that clement weather On the roiling Chebougamou! Celebrations of Bruce's life will be held in the spring/summer months in Parry Sound and Toronto.