Edward Lewis CHARLTON

1967 - 2021

EDWARD LEWIS CHARLTON May 10, 1967 - March 3, 2021 Ted was big, strong and remarkable. He died too young. His kind and gentle spirit cast a long shadow, and if you got caught in it you were inevitably better for it. The eldest son of the Honourable Anthony Edward Charlton (deceased) and Wilhelmina Joan Charlton. Dear brother to Eleanor (Mishka) and Ian (Sara), proud uncle to Abigail, Sam, Lucy and Wyatt. A magical childhood in North Toronto, Galt and on the shores of Kempenfelt Bay (Nonikiln and Greenwoods) surrounded by loving cousins and extraordinary natural beauty set Teddy on his way. A Camp Hurontario legend and a man among boys on the track and football field at Upper Canada College. Ted left Toronto and Upper Canada as Head of Orr's House, a massively gifted fine artist, a passionate and dedicated musician, a humble, ever-dismissing star athlete and an adored and celebrated friend, He headed west and his long love affair with Vancouver and British Columbia began. Ted graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. His professional career took him from the canvas and easel to the computer screen. Senior positions as Technical Artist, Animator, and Director with Electronic Arts, Alias, Rainmaker, Autodesk, Warner Brothers and Microsoft would define his career. Extremely talented and respected, Ted was always in demand. Spending time with Ted was a lot like going to confession. You left him feeling healed, restored, forgiven. For those closest to him a fully engaged Ted was as good as it got. His life purpose was enormously impacted by his incomprehensibly difficult role of being his mother's primary caregiver through her most challenging years as she descended further into dementia. Ted honoured her wish to stay in her Old Cabbagetown home until she was 80 and deployed her care and affairs with grace, love, precision and purpose. Perhaps one of Ted's greatest joys was to be in the morning light set in the classical guitar position and just playing. Whether in the courtyard of his own home or jam sessions with his closest friends and family, he loved to play and worked hard at it. Ace Frehley, Neil Young, Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, Andres Segovia, Christopher Parkening and John Williams - these were some of Ted's greatest heroes and influences. Human connection and the revealing of truth through music was foundational to Ted's emotional construction and restoration. One of his favourite pieces of original art hung in his grandmother's home until her death. A masterpiece rubbing of an aging, classic car settled happily in the overgrown grass. Ted titled the work - Really Been. Ted sometimes engaged in a misfiring calculation that he might have played more, painted more, created more. That far stretching community of friends and family knew otherwise, and embraced him for who he was. Fair minded, merciful and enormously capable. Ted had really been. Gifted, accomplished, loved and remembered. Ted died in Vancouver, steps from English Bay and the beckoning Pacific Ocean. The artist was at work in pursuit of solving that calculation and resolving his clarity of purpose. To the man, son, brother, uncle and friend - rest easy our king. You are desperately missed. Always. 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness' Matthew 25:23 Visitation for Ted will be held at Glenhaven Memorial Chapel in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Sunday, March 21 at 3 p.m. A Celebration of Life service will be held at St. Paul's Cemetery in Barrie, Ontario in the coming days. In memory of Ted please donate to Regent Park School of Music at www.rpmusic.org to give kids a chance to realize their promise through music.