DR. JOHN BROOKS FOTHERINGHAM

1929 - 2019

FOTHERINGHAM, DR. JOHN BROOKS John died peacefully on October 7, 2019 in Kingston, surrounded by his family. He leaves his loving wife Hazel (nee Ross), children John (Kim), Jill (Dave), Scott (Annie) and Alexa (Drew), his brother Brooks (Yvonne), as well as four grandchildren (Chris, Alexa, Ruth and Alexis), and one great-grandson (Jack). John was predeceased by his first wife, Alexa (Macleod), who died in 1982 and his sister, Janet, who died in 2000. Born in Montreal on June 9, 1929, John earned his medical degree from McGill University in 1954, followed by a Diploma of Psychiatry from the University of Toronto in 1957. He devoted his career to the assessment and care of the developmentally disabled as well as the prevention of developmental disabilities, focusing first on children and young adults, and then on residents of group homes in Southeastern Ontario. From 1962 to 1966, he oversaw the Mental Retardation Unit at the Toronto Psychiatric Hospital, followed by three years at the Mental Retardation Centre (now Surrey Place) as Director of Treatment and Training. John was Associate Professor of Special Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education from 1969 to 1973, followed by 10 years as the Clinical Director of the Child Development and Counselling Service at North York General Hospital, and another three years as Chief of Psychiatry at NYGH. John co-authored several books on developmental disabilities with his colleagues, including "The Same but Different: Understanding the Preschool Retarded Child," "Prevention of Intellectual Handicaps" and "Prevention of Mental Retardation." It was soon after publishing one of his books that John met Hazel at the Guidance Centre, University of Toronto, where she was an editor. They married on January 7, 1984 and moved to Kingston the following year where John accepted the position of Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Queen's University. He lectured at the university and provided psychiatric counselling for various agencies in Brockville, Belleville, Picton and Kingston. He served on the boards of Epilepsy Kingston and Ryandale Shelter for the Homeless and was a member of the Grant Committee of the Community Foundation. While his work was important to him, John's primary devotion was to his family. He and Alexa raised their four children in a small house on a large lot in Thornhill with a big garden and winter skating rink. When the children were young, John and Alexa took every August to head off in their station wagon and tent-trailer. Over the years, they visited every province in Canada and much of the eastern US. His children have particularly fond memories of visits to Mt. Desert Island in Maine, Fundy National Park in New Brunswick and Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Patient, kind and gentle, he was a strong supporter of his children's educations and career choices, only offering the advice, "Do whatever you want, just do it well." Recently, his children laughed when they admitted to each other that he made each of them feel they were his favourite. For him, the best part of every meal was dessert; his peppermint stick ice cream always the finale of family celebrations. John continued to enjoy his work until he was 70. An adolescent passion for stamp collecting was rekindled in retirement. His particular interest was Canadian stamps pre-Confederation up to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and, a decade ago, he finally acquired the first Canadian stamp, the elusive three-penny Beaver. Well-known in his Kingston neighbourhood, where he again lived in a small house on a large lot, he walked daily with dog Max, eventually with the aid of a walker, fitted with lights fore and aft for the shorter fall and winter days. His children are extremely grateful to Hazel for her devoted care as John's health declined. The family wishes to thank the exceptional staff at Fairmount Home in Glenburnie for their friendly and compassionate care in the final year of John's life and Steve Rush for his support and friendship during the last six years. John was a beloved and wonderful husband, father, grandfather, uncle and colleague. He will be dearly missed and never forgotten. No formal service is planned. If desired, John would have appreciated donations made in his memory to Community Foundation for Kingston and Area. Hey Dad, go-karts!