(March 14, 1948 – March 3, 2025) Sheila died in hospital in the early hours of the morning. For several days, her heart had been beating and beating, working harder and harder, then it fluttered erratically and came to rest. Before dawn, her family came to join her, held her tight, and said goodbye. Daughter of Mac and Nora Robinson, she grew up at Charthouse in Oakville with Ian, Sandy, Gregor, Phyl, and Blair. This childhood Eden was the beginning of Sheila's story. She went on to Vic at the University of Toronto, where she did Philosophy and English and met George Fallis, whom she lured, loved, and married. Together they went to Ottawa, where she got her Journalism degree, back to Princeton where George could work on his dissertation, and then back to Canada to raise a family. Her children, daughters-in-law, and eight grandchildren – Jed and Jenny (Finlay, Avalon, Weston), Brooks and Claire (Cillian, Quinn), Pearce and Kira (Maelle, Julian), and Zoe (Anders) – brought joy and pride. She was in the fabric of their lives. For 18 months of courtship and 54 years of marriage, Sheila and George carried Sheila's story forward as lovers and companions. Before children, Sheila was a freelance journalist and co-founded a health information company distributing a free newsletter, Health Matters, through pharmacies (ahead of its time, but overtaken by the internet). Returning to work after the children were launched, she worked for the Gairdner Foundation, based at Massey College, which took her around the world to the highest salons of biomedical research and of the Canada's federal civil service. She had great admiration for the people in each. Energetic, she had an inquisitive mind and was unapologetically herself. She loved conversation, reading and talking about books, going to the theatre and the opera, and having dinner with old friends. In the second half of her story, bridge at Monday Club and the B&R, tennis, and golf brought new friends. She was happy outdoors, gardening and birdwatching in the spring, swimming in summer at the cottage in Muskoka – early morning skinny dips and properly-attired long-distance swims in the afternoon – hiking in the fall, and cross-country skiing in the winter. Family vacations, beyond the bedrock of the cottage, were a chapter in her story, starting with a trip to PEI with George and the four kids, luggage lashed on the roof of a battered station wagon, staying in university residences en route to save hotel bills. These vacations (family were now 16) eventually became a magical weeklong stay at a villa, first in Italy and five years later, in France. In lieu of flowers, take an early morning skinny dip when you are next by a lake. There will be a Celebration of Life on Sunday, March 16th, at the Badminton and Raquet Club, 25 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., remarks at 2:00 p.m. To offer condolences, please visit
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Published by The Globe and Mail from Mar. 8 to Mar. 12, 2025.
