passings Archives | Research & Innovation

Passings: Margaret Sinclair taught mathematics to future teachers

fmaquito — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ Professor Margaret Sinclair, co-director of the 91��ɫ/Seneca Institute for Math, Science & Technology Education and a professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education, died of cancer Feb. 21 at her home in Toronto. She was 62.

For 15 years, prior to earning her doctorate, Prof. Sinclair worked as a teacher and vice-principal with the Toronto Catholic District School Board. During her time with the board, she earned a master’s degree in the Mathematics for Teachers Program in the Faculty of Education. Then, after raising five children, she decided to pursue her PhD in math education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. At age 50, Prof. Sinclair successfully earned her PhD and came to 91��ɫ as a professor in the Math Education Department.

Margaret Sinclair

Colleagues recall that while her drive was mathematics, Prof. Sinclair’s passion was teaching, researching and publishing. She balanced her life as wife, mother, student and teacher with precision and extraordinary energy.

“In her too brief time at 91��ɫ, Margaret had a major impact on a number of programs, including co-developing the Mathematics for Education Program in the Mathematics Department, and also developing closer collaborations at the graduate level between Mathematics and Education, designed in part help the MA in Mathematics for Teachers become a better pathway for others to a PhD in Mathematics Education,” recalled her colleague and friend, 91��ɫ mathematics Professor Walter Whiteley. “She played a critical role in a number of initiatives in the Faculty of Education, including College Math Project and the Summer Science program.”

Professor Sinclair leaves her husband of 43 years, Larry, and their five children Jennifer, Doug, Frank, Brian and Carolyn, and her grandchildren Jacob, Des, Max and Ben.

Visitation for Prof. Sinclair will take place at the Murray E. Newbigging Funeral Home, 733 Mt. Pleasant Road, on Thursday, Feb. 23, from 7 to 9 pm and Friday from 2 to 4pm and 7 to 9pm. The funeral mass will be celebrated at St. Anselm’s Church, 1 MacNaughton Road, Saturday, Feb. 25 at 11:30am, with interment to follow at Mt. Hope Cemetery. If so desired, donations in honour of Margaret may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Passings: Theatre scholar Lisa Wolford Wylam was a specialist in contemporary performance

fmaquito — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ is mourning the loss of Professor Lisa Wolford Wylam, who died suddenly on Sunday, Oct. 9 while visiting family in Knoxville, Tennessee. The University flag will fly at half-mast in her honour from 9am today until 1pm on tomorrow.

Left: Lisa Wolford Wylam

Prof. Wylam came to 91��ɫ from Bowling Green State University in 2006, joining the faculty in 91��ɫ’s Department of Theatre as associate professor. At the time of her death, she was graduate director of the MA/PhD Program in Theatre Studies.

A passionate and widely respected scholar, Prof. Wylam was a specialist in performance art, theories of acting and directing, and performance ethnography, with a particular interest in the work of groundbreaking theatre director Jerzy Grotowski. She was best known for her involvement with the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards in Pontedera, Italy and her ethnographic work with US-based performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña and his company, La Pocha Nostra. A founding vice president of Performance Studies international (PSi), she served as program chair for the 2010 PSi conference, Performing Publics, held in Toronto.

“Lisa had a brilliant mind and contributed so much to the development of contemporary performance research,” said her friend and department colleague, theatre Professor Laura Levin, who directed the conference jointly with Prof. Wylam. “There has been a tremendous outpouring of grief within the theatre and performance studies community following her passing, as scholars from around the world recognize the importance of her contributions to the field.”

Prof. Wylam’s publications include Grotowski’s Objective Drama Research (University Press of Mississippi 1996) and The Grotowski Sourcebook (Routledge 1997), co-edited with Richard Schechner. In 2008, she co-edited (with Mario Biagini and Antonio Attisani) Doorways: Performing as a Vehicle at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards (Seagull Press) and co-edited with Kris Salata a special issue of The Drama Review that examines Grotowski’s lingering influence on artists and scholars around the world.

Prof. Wylam’s scholarship was informed by her extensive experience in devised theatre and as a dramaturg, including her work with La Pocha Nostra, the Workcenter, and Cleveland’s Theatre Labyrinth. In 2010 she brought Pocha Nostra’s co-artistic directors, Gómez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes, to 91��ɫ as artists-in-residence for the Summer Institute in Theatre Studies (see YFile, June 29, 2010). This past summer, she was instrumental in bringing Mario Biagini from the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards to 91��ɫ for an intensive Summer Institute (see YFile, July 25).��

Alongside her professional accomplishments, Prof. Wylam’s faculty colleagues note above all her deep commitment to her students, her collegiality towards her peers, and her personal integrity and compassionate spirit. She was a beloved teacher and a tireless advocate for students and junior faculty. She brought to her classes tremendous critical insight, warmth and humour, and instilled in her students a passion for merging theory with practice. Working closely with her graduate students in theatre studies, she helped to create a rich, challenging and forward-thinking environment for advanced study.

"Lisa was incredibly generous and supportive, always willing to step in to help students and colleagues when the need arose,” said theatre Professor Marlis Schweitzer. “Her passion, conviction and dedication to our students were evident in everything she did – from classes and committees to one-on-one meetings. We will deeply miss her."

Prof. Wolford Wylam is survived by her husband, John Wylam. An on-campus memorial event celebrating her life is being planned; details will be forthcoming soon. Meanwhile, condolence cards and messages for the family may be directed to Professor Elizabeth Asselstine, chair, Department of Theatre.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Passings: Film professor Douglas Davidson learned his craft at CBC and NFB

fmaquito — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Douglas Drysdale Davidson, a film editor, television producer and director who taught film at 91��ɫ for 30 years, died April 3 at his home in Toronto. He was 82.

A memorial service will be held today in the A.W. Miles Chapel at the Humphrey Funeral Home, 1403 Bayview Ave., at 11am. 91��ɫ has lowered the flag today in his memory.

Born in Toronto in 1929, Prof. Davidson graduated from the University of Toronto in 1952 and began work as a stagehand in live CBC television dramas. His career moved into film editing at the National Film Board (NFB) in Ottawa, where he co-founded the NFB Film Guild and helped organize a comprehensive survey of international documentary filmmaking. Later, he returned to the CBC and Toronto, where he was also active – sometimes as a programmer – in the Toronto Film Society.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he produced and directed children’s programs for the CBC, including “The Friendly Giant”, “Mr. Dress-Up”, “Junior Roundup”, “Maggie Muggins” and “Nursery School Time”. He also produced the after-school series “Passport to Adventure”, featuring Elwy Yost as host of serialized feature films chosen to fire the imaginations of young viewers, a precursor to Yost’s later TVO series “Magic Shadows”. The two men would team up again in 1977 when Prof. Davidson produced a season of TVO’s “Saturday Night at the Movies” and produced his own series, “Aspects of Cinema”, exploring all aspects of the art of cinema.

Prof. Davidson’s teaching career began in 1970, in the second year of 91��ɫ’s pioneering film program with founding chair James Beveridge. For three decades, he taught film editing, with rigorous attention to detail and meaning, as well as film history and theory, conveying a profound respect for the art of cinema. He loved the work of François Truffaut, Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman, but came alive when sharing the art of film dance or talking about the poetry of film.

He had a broad and eclectic interest in all films, from the silent films of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith to the comedies of Preston Sturges and Ernst Lubitsch, from the Hollywood musical to the documentary art of Leni Riefenstahl, from Norman McLaren shorts to Fellini’s 8 1/2 and Robert Altman’s Nashville.

As a film-programming consultant, he was often invited to speak about educational television, the design, choreography and production of Hollywood musicals, the practice of musical "quoting" in Hollywood musical scores and other related topics.

In an obituary, his family described him as a gentleman and humanitarian, a man of integrity and kindness, and a gentle soul who developed many friendships.

At 91��ɫ, he was particularly close to 91��ɫ film Professor Tereza Barta and Ryerson University film instructor Laurinda Hartt-Fournier, who wrote in a note published on the funeral home website: “Doug, you were my best friend for 40 years and affected my life profoundly as a teacher, director, film editor, film admirer (much more than a film fan) and a wonderfully supportive friend. You are missed, but all the students I have taught in the past 20 years have been the recipients of your love of film and your joy in it through how I teach and what I teach.”

Prof. Davidson is predeceased by his wife Catherine and survived by his brother Ronald, stepdaughter Christine Thomson and her son Jeremy, as well as his nieces Robin Tonna (Vincent), Kelly Davidson and nephew Cameron Davidson. In latter years, longtime friend Catherine Lawson and her sons, Thomas and David, welcomed Professor Davidson into their lives.

Donations may be made to the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario, 2300 Yonge St., Suite 1300, PO Box 2414, Toronto, ON, M4P 1E4 or charity of your choice.

Condolences and memories may be forwarded through .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Passings: Professor John Saywell, a pioneering figure at 91��ɫ, dies at 82

fmaquito — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000

University Professor Emeritus John Tupper (Jack) Saywell, noted Canadian historian and a member of the Founders Society of 91��ɫ, has died. Prof. Saywell, or "Jack" as most knew him, died on April 20 in Toronto. He was 82.

Known as the "kid from Cowichan Lake, British Columbia", Prof. Saywell arrived at the University of Toronto in 1954. Throughout the long and distinguished career that followed, Prof. Saywell took many roads less travelled. In the process, he deepened Canada’s knowledge and understanding of itself, from the constitution and federalism to the offices of the lieutenant-governor and the governor-general. He also chronicled Canadian history, economics, politics, culture and society as editor of the Canadian Historical Review from 1957 to 1963, and as editor of the Canadian Annual Review from 1960 to 1979, reviving and revitalizing these two journals.

Right: Professor John "Jack" Saywell in earlier years

Prof. Saywell was the founding dean of 91��ɫ's Faculty of Arts & Science, serving in this formative role from 1964 to 1973. As well, his thoughts and direction helped found 91��ɫ's Faculties of Fine Arts and Education. In 1970, he was shortlisted as a candidate to succeed founding President Murray Ross, a much-chronicled episode in 91��ɫ's history (the ultimate choice was David Slater, who later resigned amid deep controversy). Prof. Saywell, by all accounts, had strong support among faculty members.

In 1980, 91��ɫ conferred on Prof. Saywell its inaugural University Professorship for both service and scholarly achievement. The citation read: "Your imprint was present in every major undertaking pursued by the University during its crucial, formative years… Few people have ever so shaped any institution". It concluded by saying that "The Faculty of Arts, and to a great extent, 91��ɫ, remains ‘the house that Jack built.’” In 1999, during 91��ɫ’s 40th anniversary year, he was inducted into the Founders Society for contributions to 91��ɫ during its formative years.

Prof. Saywell’s ground-breaking scholarship was recognized through a number of major awards. His 1957 book, The Office of Lieutenant-Governor: A Study in Canadian Government and Politics, won the Delancey K. Jay Prize at Harvard University. Another, the 1991 "Just Call Me Mitch": The Life of Mitchell F. Hepburn, won the Floyd Chalmers Award for the best book on Ontario history. His 2002 study of the Supreme Court of Canada, titled The Lawmakers: Judicial Power and the Shaping of Canadian Federalism, won the John W. Dafoe Prize for "distinguished writing on Canada and/or Canada’s place in the world." He also interpreted Canadian, British and European history for thousands of Ontario high-school students through close to a dozen textbooks written between 1959 and 1969 with friend and colleague John Ricker.

As a teacher of undergraduate and graduate history and political science, Prof. Saywell excelled. His lectures and seminars were known across the University for their engagement and rigour. From 1987 to 1998, he was director of the Graduate Program in History. He was especially proud of his role in helping to shape a generation of scholars. 91��ɫ PhD graduates from this period now staff history departments in virtually every major Canadian university. In 2009, two of these graduates edited Framing Canadian Federalism: Historical Essays in Honour of John T. Saywell, a Festschrift (see YFile, June 17, 2009).

His work in the media included roles as actor, narrator and consultant in a series of CBC TV historical dramas; as host of the CBC TV newsmagazine "The Way It Is"; as host of "Options" for TVO; and as Tokyo correspondent for CTV National News.

Prof. Saywell consulted for USAID, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the Harvard Institute for International Development and the governments of Ontario and Canada, among others. From 1974 to 1980, he was director of the 91��ɫ Kenya Project in Nairobi. From 1979 to 1981, he was visiting professor at the Universities of Tokyo, Keio and Tskuba in Japan.

In 2008, he published , part history, part memoir of 91��ɫ’s early days. In it, Prof. Saywell documented the development of the college system, the creation of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education, the student revolt of the late 1960s and the controversy over hiring American professors to teach in Canadian universities, an issue he remembers debating in 1969 on CBC TV’s "The Way It Is". He also wrote about his part in the presidential struggles of the early 1970s.

Prof. Saywell will be remembered by his many friends and colleagues at 91��ɫ. He will be missed by the family whose lives he shaped as patriarch. He leaves his wife Suzanne Firth, his dog "Mist"; his four children, 12 grandchildren and his brother William Saywell and his family.

A private family service was held on April 23. Friends and colleagues of Prof. Saywell are invited to "The Way It Was: Remembering Jack", a celebration of his life, to be held on Sunday, June 19 (Father’s Day) from 11:30am, at the Japanese-Canadian Cultural Centre, 6 Garamond Court (off Wynford Drive, west of the Don Valley Parkway) in North 91��ɫ. For more information or directions to the location, call 416-441-2345.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation in Prof. Saywell’s memory be made to the John T. Saywell Prize for Canadian Legal History, c/o the , to the , or to a charity of choice.

His is available online.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Passings: Memorial for Professor David Noble to be held Saturday, March 26

fmaquito — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

A memorial for 91��ɫ Professor David Franklin Noble, who died in Toronto on Dec. 27 following complications of pneumonia, will be held on Saturday. Prof. Noble was 65.

The memorial will take place March 26, at 4pm, at the Cecil Street Community Centre, 58 Cecil St., in Toronto. The 91��ɫ flag will be lowered to half-mast Friday afternoon and will remain at half-mast until 5pm Saturday in memory of Prof. Noble.

Right: David Noble. Photo by Denis G. Rancourt, Wikimedia Commons.

, Prof. Noble taught in the Department of Social Science’s Social & Political Thought Program in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Prof. Noble was the author of the books and P. His most recent publication was .

He was a of technology, science and education.

Prof. Noble is survived by his wife Sarah Dopp, daughters Clare, Alice and Helen O'Connor, sister Jane Pafford, and brothers Doug and Henry Noble.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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Passings: Historian Richard Storr was briefly acting president of 91��ɫ

fmaquito — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Professor Emeritus Richard Storr, a historian who was briefly 91��ɫ's acting president, died earlier this week at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto following a brief illness.

Prof. Storr was born and educated in the United States, receiving a PhD from Harvard University in 1949. After teaching at various American colleges, he accepted a position at the University of Chicago in 1951 and remained there until 1968 after which he joined the History Department and the Humanities Division at 91��ɫ.

He served as director of the Graduate History Program from 1969 to 1971 and was acting dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies from 1971 to 1972. Storr served on several Senate committees including the Sub-committee on Long-Range Planning, and acted as a consultant to the vice-president on long-range planning. In addition, he also sat on the .

In 1973, Prof. Storr was asked by Robert MacIntosh, then chair of the Board of Governors, to become acting president of 91��ɫ. Before Prof. Storr could assume the position, he was forced to withdraw due to a recurrence of an old illness. He retired from active teaching in 1982.

Storr is the author of , and as well as numerous articles on American higher education.

Prof. Storr is survived by his wife Virginia, children Elizabeth, Robert, and Annie, and six grandchildren. No memorial details have been made available.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Passings: Professor Delmar McCormack Smyth was former dean of Atkinson

fmaquito — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Professor Emeritus Delmar McCormack Smyth, dean of Atkinson College from 1963 to 1969 and past director of the Centre for Continuing Education at 91��ɫ, died peacefully at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton on Feb. 21. He was 88.

Prof. McCormack Smyth, or simply “Mac” as he was known to his family, colleagues and friends, was a professor of administrative studies at 91��ɫ. Before coming here, he was the assistant registrar and then director of admissions for the University of Toronto, from 1958 to 1960.

Right: Delmar McCormack Smyth

Mac was a graduate of the University of Toronto and earned his PhD in 1972. From 1960 to 1962, he attended Churchill College at the University of Cambridge, where he was the first Fellow Commoner, a fellowship honouring the life and work of Sir Winston Churchill.

Prior to entering the academy, Mac worked in industry and government. In the early 1950s, he worked with C.D. Howe in the federal department of trade & commerce and was involved in the organization of Canada’s early international trade fairs. His other achievements include his role as the founding chair and honorary life chair of the independent Radiation Safety Institute of Canada and founding director in 1982 of the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy in Toronto; he also served as that organization’s chair in 1984. He continued to teach at 91��ɫ into the mid-1990s.

A life-long scholar and learner, author and storyteller, Mac shared his wisdom and insights into politics and history generously. It was his life’s wish to find a way to ensure world peace. He was admired for his great mind, thoughtful determination and generous spirit.

Mac is survived by his wife Wanita, his nephews Roy Smyth and Craig Taylor and his great-niece Sara Smyth.

A celebration of his life will take place at the Central Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ont., on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 3pm. Visitation will take place prior to the service from 2 to 3pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the or the in Hamilton. Friends and colleagues are invited to sign an .

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Passings: Professor David Noble was a noted academic and critical historian

fmaquito — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ Professor David Franklin Noble has died following complications of pneumonia. Prof. Noble died on Monday, Dec. 27 in Toronto. He was 65.

�� of technology, science and education, Prof. Noble was perhaps best known for his book . Most recently, he published . Until his death, he taught in the Social & Political Thought Program in the Department of Social Science in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Born July 25, 1945, in New 91��ɫ City, he had held positions at MIT, the Smithsonian Institution and Drexel University, as well as many visiting professorships.

In his role as an academic and critical historian, Prof. Noble's numerous books and writings challenged core ideas and major institutions of technology, science, corporate capitalism and higher education.

The father of three daughters, Prof. Noble enjoyed music, nature and treasured his summers in the Vermont woods spent with his family, friends and colleagues.

He is survived by his wife Sarah Dopp of Toronto; daughters Clare O'Connor of Toronto, Helen O'Connor of Toulon, France and Alice O'Connor of Vancouver; sister Jane Pafford of Arcadia, Florida; and brothers Doug Noble of Rochester, NY, and Henry Noble of Seattle, Wash.

A public memorial service will be announced in the coming weeks.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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91��ɫ remembers Professor Harold Kaplan: Former arts dean and student supporter

fmaquito — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Harold Kaplan, professor emeritus of political science and former dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Arts, died on June 22 at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie. He was 74.

Kaplan joined the University in 1962 and served as acting chair of political science at the Glendon campus from 1964 to 1965. After his first sabbatical year, he became director of the Graduate Program in Political Science from 1967 to 1968. He became chair of the Department of Political Science in 1969 and chair of the Senate of 91��ɫ in 1970. Kaplan was also a member of the Board of Governors and academic colleague to the president of the Council of Ontario Universities. From July 1978 to June 1983 he was dean of the Faculty of Arts.

Right: Kaplan with grandson Nathan Kaplan

Shortly after joining the University, Kaplan was quoted at length in a story about demands for more affordable housing in Canada, in The Globe and Mail on Aug. 27, 1963. “Dr. Kaplan suggested that if Canadians peered across the border in an attempt to find an answer to their public housing needs, the only thing they would find would be US officials peering back in an attempt to find a solution to theirs,” wrote The Globe.

In 1979, The Globe took Kaplan to task for suggesting 91��ɫ should borrow money to get through its budget crisis. “If a balanced budget is the main aim of a university,” Kaplan warned, “it will not get through the next five years without firing tenured faculty, closing programs and even Faculties.”

Kaplan loved teaching and had a long career at 91��ɫ winning several awards before retiring in 2001. He was made a member of the University’s Founders Honours Society in March 2000. Over many years he went out of his way to counsel students and wrote letters of recommendation for many of them, said his daughter Abigail.

Kaplan moved to Barrie from Toronto a couple years before retiring and enjoyed the rural environment, said his daughter. He enjoyed great walks with his companion beagle and time spent with his grandchildren.

Harold Kaplan was born in Weehawken, NJ, on April 11, 1936, and received his BA at Columbia University in 1957. He became a Canadian citizen in 1970. He leaves four children: Abigail, Harriet, Daniel and Jonah; and six grandchildren: Christopher and Nicholas Leger, Nathan Kaplan and Jacob, Matthew and Ava Kaplan.

Kaplan was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2009 and died a year later. Donations in his memory can be made to Barrie’s .

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Passings: Professor Gina Feldberg led the 91��ɫ Centre for Health Studies

fmaquito — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Professor Gina Feldberg, a faculty member in the Health & Society Program in the Department of Social Science in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, died on Saturday, July 10, after a long illness. She was 54 years old.

Prof. Feldberg made a significant mark at 91��ɫ. She spent a decade at Harvard, first as an undergraduate in biology, then as a graduate student in the history of science and medicine. When settling on a dissertation topic, Prof. Feldberg chose to explore differing American and Canadian approaches to the control of tuberculosis (TB) in the first half of the 20th century. Her husband, Rob Vipond, said that even her historian colleagues wondered why she had chosen to write on such an unfashionable disease as TB. Yet within a few years, the disease was resurgent, TB was “hot” in historical circles, and Prof. Feldberg’s dissertation, now a book titled (1995), had captured the Jason Hannah Medal from the for the best book in the history of medicine.

Right: Prof. Gina Feldberg

Prof. Feldberg's gift for engaging students in the area of health & society was recognized through a faculty-wide award for outstanding teaching in 1990. She was particularly proud of the graduate students whom she mentored. She led the 91��ɫ Centre for Health Studies (now the 91��ɫ Institute for Health Research) through a critical decade of rebuilding health studies at the University, then managed a large and complex research grant on women’s health from 1992 until 2001. At the time of her death, Prof. Feldberg was about to begin a research leave to finish work on an inspired project on the history of salads.

In addition to her colleagues and hundreds of former students, Prof. Feldberg leaves her husband Rob Vipond and their daughter Susanna. A memorial service will be held for Prof. Feldberg in the fall.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Prof. Feldberg's honour can be made to the Princess Margaret Hospital, 610 University Ave., Toronto, for research in multiple myeloma; St. Stephen's Community House, 91 Bellevue Ave., Toronto; or the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, 10 Garden St., Cambridge, MA.

Professor Feldberg was also remembered in an obituary published in The Globe and Mail:

It's safe to say that tuberculosis is not a subject of great interest for most folks – unless, of course, you or a loved one actually has it. Often associated with filth, squalor and Dickensian living conditions, TB, at least in the industrialized world, is commonly, and erroneously, thought to have vanished with consumptive Victorians, and good riddance.

For Gina Feldberg, TB's persistence and treatment were treasure troves, offering up mountains of information on social reform, middle-class values, personal hygiene, and public health policy. She believed that as with AIDS, tuberculosis served as a metaphor for other social ills, and that perhaps like no other disease helped shape modern North American values.

She was a historian of science, specifically of medicine and more specifically of infectious diseases. A probing, inventive scholar, she examined the interplay of illness, class, and the practice of medicine, and how those combine to affect the health of nations.

"If we want policy to be effective," she said, boiling it down, "we need to know why it looks the way that it looks and how we can change it."

At Toronto's 91��ɫ, where she taught in the Department of Social Science and for nine years headed the Centre for Health Studies [now the 91��ɫ Institute for Health Research], she also weighed in on a host of public issues, including women's health, AIDS and Canada's health-care system.

Feldberg, who died in Toronto on July 10 at the age of 54 following a four-year battle with multiple myeloma, focused on the differing American and Canadian approaches to the control of TB in the first half of the 20th century.

The is available on the Globe's website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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