Charles Richard HARINGTON

1933 - 2021

CHARLES RICHARD HARINGTON (Dick) Charles Richard (Dick) Harington, O.C., Ph.D. (Zoology), DSc. (Hon.), F.R.G.S., of Gloucester, Ontario, died peacefully at the Montfort Hospital on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, in his 88th year, with his wife, Gail, by his side. Born in Calgary in May 1933, Dick received his academic training at McGill University and the University of Alberta. He was awarded a PhD in zoology from the latter institution in 1977 for a thesis on Pleistocene mammals of the Yukon Territory. After working for geophysical companies in Alberta, and for the Arctic Institute of North America in Ottawa, he spent a year on northern Ellesmere Island during the International Geophysical Year, 1957-58, and came full circle in the summer of 2008 by carrying out field work on Ellesmere Island during the International Polar Year. From 1960-65, he worked as a Canadian Wildlife Service biologist, specializing in polar bear and muskox research. In 1965, he was appointed Curator of Quaternary Zoology with the National Museums of Canada and was Chief of the Paleobiology Division (1982-91). He carried out detailed studies of the ice age animals of the Yukon, concentrating his work on the unglaciated country near Dawson and Old Crow; and on Pliocene vertebrates and environments of Ellesmere Island. His interests included: the ice age vertebrates of Canada, Alaska and Greenland; the evolution and distribution of arctic and alpine mammals. Dick was responsible for directing the National Museum of Natural Sciences' (now Canadian Museum of Nature) international, multidisciplinary Climatic Change Project (1977-1992), and for publishing results of climatic change in Canada during the last 20,000 years. His research position with the Canadian Museum of Nature spanned 30 years (1965-1998), and through his extensive field work in northern Canada, he greatly expanded the collection of vertebrate fossils to more than 40,000 specimens, making it one of the best curated collections of its kind in the world. One of Dick's public legacies was overseeing the creation of life-size sculptures of two adult woolly mammoths and a calf, which have graced the grounds of the Canadian Museum of Nature since 1987. The sculptures are based on Dick's research and fossil discoveries; copies were provided for the opening of the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre in Whitehorse in 1997. After retirement in 1998, he continued working with CMN as Research Associate and Curator Emeritus (Quaternary Zoology), writing up results of his research and publishing a total of over 300 scientific and popular papers throughout his career. Generous with his vast knowledge, he was a popular speaker within the scientific community and the general public. Dick established the Harington Fellowship at University of Winnipeg in 1987 to promote study of scientific and historical material in the Hudson's Bay Company Archives; the Harington Paleoenvironmental Scholarship at University of Alberta in 1993 to further paleoenvironmental studies in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; and the Harington Graduate Scholarship for Canadian Cave Studies established in 2011 in the Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia. He established the Florence K. Harington Poetry Scholarship in the Department of English, University of Calgary in 2016. Dick supported the Jane Coop piano performance scholarship at University of British Columbia, Vancouver in 2013, as well as funding for Mozart Piano Pieces by Jane Coop [Skylark Records (8901CD) in 1988]. He planned (with Doug Watson) and funded a bronze, life-size statue of the First World War fighter ace William George Barker, VC now on display (2016) in the Canadian Airforce Museum at Trenton, Ontario. An earlier bronze bust of Barker was presented to the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, where it is on display (2011). Marjan Mozetich's Cello Concerto was commissioned by Dick through the National Arts Centre Orchestra and was written specifically for Amanda Forsyth, who gave the first performances at the NAC on November 14-15, 2018. Significant awards: Haringtonhippus, an extinct genus of North American stilt-legged horse, was named after Charles Richard Harington by Heintzman et al. 2017 (see Wikipedia). He was presented with a plaque by University of Winnipeg to commemorate 22 Harington Fellows supported at the Rupert's Land Centre since 1987. Doctor of Science (Honorary), University of Alberta, Edmonton, 2004, and gave the Convocation Address (University of Alberta, November 17, 2004). Dick was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada, 2001, and an Adjunct Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, November 1, 1998. He received the Massey Medal (Royal Canadian Geographical Society) in 1987. He also received many other recognitions for scientific work and social endeavours. Dick was predeceased by his parents, Charles Frederic Harington and Florence Katherine Harington. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Gail; stepchildren, Jonathan Rice (Bernadette), Patricia Rice-Kuffner (William), Linda Rice-Richard (Charles); and his step-grandchildren, Harrison, Melissa, Alicia, Jessica and Brendan. In lieu of funeral services, a Celebration of Life will be held later (date to be determined). Condolences/Tributes/Donations Hulse, Playfair & McGarry www.hpmcgarry.ca 613-233-1143