WILLIAM JOHN "BILL" WOLFE

William John Wolfe (B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., P.Eng., P.Geo.) was born on September 17, 1937, in Ottawa, and passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, at Michael Garron Hospital on December 18, 2025, in Toronto. Bill was the loving father of Susan (Craig), William Jr. (Anna), and Michael (Nicole). He was predeceased by his brother, James Arthur Wolfe. He leaves his wife, Louise (Shelley, Susan, Heather); our mother, Heather Wolfe; his sister-in-law, Melba Jane Wolfe; and his adored grandchildren, Liam, Riley, Ryan, and Marley. He also leaves Louise's grandchildren, Dylan and Kristy (Riley); and great-grandchildren, Jaxon and Madison. The son of an outdoorsman and dentist, Bill and his brother, Jimmy, spent their summers (generally unattended, to their pleasure) exploring Calumet Island (Ile du Grand Calumet) from the log cabin built by their father, William Arthurs Wolfe, who gave Bill a lifelong love of nature. Bill went on to dye the fountain purple at Queens University (B.Sc. '61) and cheer on the Bulldogs at Yale University (M.Sc. '64, Ph.D. '66). Later in life, he was pleased to know that Liam, Riley and Ryan followed his footsteps at Queens. With a shotgun slung over his shoulder and his supplies on horseback, he trudged into the Cassiar Mountains to study the Blue River ultramafic intrusion for the Geological Survey of Canada in 1963. After working at the New Brunswick Department of Mines, and then as Chief of Geophysics and Geochemistry at the Ontario Department of Mines, Bill went on to a career at Cominco (Teck Resources Ltd.) where he spent decades following his passion - clambering across mountains, prospecting from Alaska to Chile and almost everywhere in between. In the offseason, he was often found enthusiastically discussing his discoveries with colleagues at the Jolly Taxpayer on West Hastings. Bill had a keen eye for art and helped a relatively unknown Norval Morrisseau when he was down on his luck. Bill loved rocks, stocks, and baseball - Olivine, CNR, and the Blue Jays were his favourites. He was there that snowy day on April 7, 1977, and had the good sense to keep his Blue Jays ticket stub which he carried everywhere he went. That stub is part of our family lore and will be handed down for generations. Thankfully, in 2012 Bill committed his life story to paper and published his autobiography, which he dedicated to his grandchildren so they would have a record of their family origins, which began in Dublin and Liverpool, and ended up in Canada when 16-year-old Nicholas Wolfe landed in Quebec in 1890. The dedication to his autobiography captures it all: "To Liam, Riley, Ryan and Marley: Live a happy life, laugh a lot, seek and tell the truth, be kind to others. And don't waste any time with those who don't do the same." A scientist through-and-through, his rationality never got in the way of his bellowing laugh, especially when there was a spot of Irish whisky in hand. Never one to raise his voice, he could be a man of few words - he always said, "no one ever learned anything by talking." But when he spoke, it was important, and we listened. He was right. He was our beacon and our guiding light. And always will be. We love you, Dad. Put on The Sting soundtrack, pour yourself a wee dram, and rest easy.