RAY FORTUNE

The family of Ray Fortune is deeply saddened to announce that Ray passed away peacefully in his 93rd year on March 7, 2025, at Almonte General Hospital. Survived by his beloved wife, Ruth (nee Westover) of 68 years; his children, Peter (Penny), Jamie (Sherry), David (the late Jennie), Nora (Brian) and Joel (Michelle); grandchildren, Zackery, Tiffany, Vanessa, Melanie, Sarah, Laura, Adam, Celeste, Virginia, Charlotte and Tyler; and 9.99 great-grandchildren. He also leaves behind his niece Jenny (nee Lynton) Tingley and her family and his niece and nephews from the Finley family. He is greatly missed by all. Ray was a descendent of Irish immigrants in Leeds County, son of the late Arthur and Harriett (nee Cochrane) Fortune and was predeceased by his sister, Edna Lynton. Ray was born in Lansdowne on June 16, 1932, and raised on a mixed farm in Junetown and at Charleston Lake, Ontario. He grew up as society progressed from horse and waterpower to steam engines, tractors and electricity. Educated in a one room school, he went to Queen's University where he excelled and became an electrical engineer in 1954. He was involved in the development of the first fuel systems for nuclear reactors at Chalk River, and the evolution and marketing of semi-conductors, digital technologies and photonics in Kanata and Edmonton. He retired as the founding President and CEO of TR Labs, an advanced telecommunications research institute in Alberta. Throughout his career he was respected as a leader and received many awards including an honourary doctorate from the University of Alberta and the Queen's Jubilee Medal. When Ray retired, he and Ruth returned to the family farm in Almonte, where they enjoyed working in the maple sugar bush, conserving forests and wetlands, ballroom dancing and good times with family and friends. Ray and Ruth developed a progressive conservation ethic. Ray was an angler, hunter, gardener, poet and truly a man for all seasons. Ray's intellect, enthusiasm, and curiosity were remarkable, and he is an inspiration to many. A celebration of life will be arranged at a later date. The family would like to express their deep appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Ray, Dr. Dawson, and the nurses and staff at the Almonte General Hospital and Orchard View Gardens and Rexall Pharmacy in Almonte for the excellent care that Ray received over the last few years. The family asks that those wishing to make donations in Ray's memory direct them to the Almonte General Hospital Fairview Manor Foundation, or a conservation charity of choice. "You can take a boy off the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy."