Gordon Sam Abram ROBERTS

ROBERTS, Gordon Sam Abram
Passed away peacefully in his own home on the morning of Wednesday, March 22, after a brave battle with leukemia. He was the beloved husband of almost twenty years to Sonita Horvitch and the devoted and loving father to his four children, Jack Roberts (Aurelia Lipardi), Ramona Roberts (Amber Elliot), Rebecca Roberts (Gregory Reynolds), and Sarah Roberts. He was the proud grandfather of Joshua, Sabrina, Samuele, Veronica, and Summer and was anticipating with joy the birth of a fourth granddaughter in April 2017. Gordon was a dear brother to Susan Bucker ('Susie Honey') and William Roberts ('Brother Bill') (Renee Roberts) and a beloved uncle to Daniel and Amy Bucker. To his siblings, Gordon was affectionately known as 'Don.' Gordon was born in New York City on May 17, 1945, to Ruth Berlin Roberts and Lawrence Roberts. After a childhood in Huntington, New York, on Long Island, he attended Oberlin College, in Ohio, where he studied economics and met his first wife, Nancy Hoff Roberts. He received a PhD in finance from Babson College, near Boston, where his first two children were born. Gordon's egalitarian ideals prevented him from avoiding the draft; despite his opposition to the Vietnam War, he enlisted in the US Army, where he was enrolled in officer training school. In 1976 he and Nancy moved their family to Canada, settling in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where their third and fourth children were born. The marriage dissolved in 1984. In 1994 Gordon moved to Toronto to be closer to Sonita, whom he had met several years earlier; they married in 1997. A celebrated academic, Gordon had a long and successful career in the field of banking and finance. In Halifax he held a senior post at Dalhousie University's School of Business, and he joined the finance department at the Schulich School of Business at York University, in Toronto, in 1994. Until his retirement from York, in 2016, Gordon was the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Professor of Financial Services at Schulich. An intellectually exacting yet sympathetic teacher, he was both friend and mentor to the countless MBA students and doctoral candidates whom he taught and advised. He was the recipient of multiple Schulich teaching awards, based on student voting. Gordon combined high teaching standards with a strong commitment to research, publishing numerous papers in prestigious journals. For decades, until his recent retirement, he was the co-author of two prominent Canadian textbooks on finance. Generous and open, unassuming but with a highly disciplined intelligence and a keen sense of humour, Gordon made friends wherever he went. He loved to travel and attended academic conferences around the globe, spending sabbaticals at universities in such far-flung countries as Zimbabwe, Chile, Holland, and Thailand, often accompanied by Sonita. When the Schulich School of Business established a presence in India, Gordon taught courses there on four occasions, taking this opportunity to fulfill a life-long dream of exploring the country. A long-standing contributor and subscriber to the Canadian Opera Company, he relished even the most obscure productions, which he described as 'lessons in opera history' to be enjoyed along with the standard repertoire. Gordon was also an avid reader, a trait he inherited from his father and passed on to his children and grandchildren. A visit to the site of Troy, inspired by the Iliad, was among his happiest memories of travel. The onset of leukemia in 2016 was a blow to Gordon's many dreams and plans, but he met his diagnosis with acceptance and equanimity. Throughout his illness, Sonita was by his side, moving mountains to ensure that he received the best possible treatment and that all options were explored. Gordon was able to balance his all-too-frequent hospital visits with a gourmet tour of Toronto restaurants with one stalwart friend and regular neighbourhood walks with another. A highlight, last summer, was a doctor- endorsed weekend visit to an island cottage owned by dear friends and neighbours. Above all, Gordon cherished the frequent visits of his children, grandchildren, and siblings, none of whom live in Toronto. He made the most of this precious time with his family. Despite the toll exacted by the leukemia, Gordon counted himself most fortunate in the expert care he received from three outstanding Toronto hospitals: St. Michael's, Princess Margaret, and Mount Sinai. There are too many fine doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, and porters at these institutions to name; they made such a difference to him in coping with the disease. A funeral service will be held at Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel, 2401 Steeles Avenue West (west of Dufferin Street), at 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Sunday, March 26 (www.benjamins.ca), followed by a burial at Beth Tzedec Memorial Park, 5822 Bathurst Street (north of Finch on the west side). Shiva will be held on Sunday, March 26, at 6:45 p.m. at 73 Abbeywood Trail, near the intersection of York Mills Road and Leslie Street. The family would appreciate donations in Gordon's honour to any of the following institutions: Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2M9; St. Michael's Hospital Foundation, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 1W8; Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care, Sinai Health System, 60 Murray Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3L9; and the Canadian Opera Company, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4G1.