Robert Lowell WALTERS

1921 - 2024

ROBERT L. WALTERS 1921 - 2024 Robert Lowell Walters, PhD, died peacefully in Richmond, BC, on January 21, 2024, after hosting family for brunch. Bob was born on November 20, 1921, in Canton, Ohio, to Mary Smart Walters (née McKitrick) and Allen Ray Walters. He was educated at Oberlin College (BA, 1943) and Princeton (PhD, 1954). He came to Canada to take a job in the Department of French at the University of Manitoba in 1951. He was the much- loved stepfather of Peter (Julie), Kate (Robert) and Jeremy (Elizabeth) Collie, for whom he created a loving stimulating home with their mother, Rosemary Kelley; and the devoted father of Mary Louise Taylor (née Walters) (Jeff); and grandfather of Zachary Aaron Taylor and Jackson Ray Taylor. After 12 years teaching in Winnipeg, he transferred to the University of Western Ontario in 1963, where he had a brilliant career as an expert on 18th century French literature, specializing in Voltaire's writing about Newton. Bob made important academic contributions well after his retirement in 1987. He edited texts in four volumes of Voltaire's Complete Works, including Vol. 15: Eléments de la philosophie de Newton. He travelled extensively and was a man of intense interests: French and English literature and culture, opera and classical music (he played the cello), theatre, religion, history, gourmet cooking, gardening, textile collecting and more. He took greatest interest in his vast circle of friends and family, to whom he was a rich source of anecdotes, wisdom and loving fellowship. He was preceded in death by his brother, Harold Leroy (1990); and his sister, Margaret Ann (2020). He leaves many members of the Walters and Kelley families who loved to spend time with Uncle Bob. He was an honorary member of the Beigbeder family in France; and the Melady family of Dublin, Ontario. A celebration of life will be held on April 5th in Vancouver; and a memorial service on May 17th at 11 a.m. at First-St. Andrew's Church in London, Ontario. Memorial contributions can be made to the Wade-Walters Scholarship fund at Western University (www.westernconnect.ca/ walters).