In Memoriam

Remembering Queen's alumni.

Those Who Have Passed

Sharing memories of friends, faculty, and colleagues - In Memoriam helps you honour those who have recently passed.

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  • Black and white photo of Margaret Moon from an old photograph.

    1940s

    Margaret Moon (苍茅别 Cream)

    鈥 BA鈥48

    Spring 2022

    Margaret passed away on April 29, 2021. She was 93. She was predeceased by her husband, Alexander J. Moon (Arts'49). She is survived by her three children, James (Tracey), Richard (Law'81) (Audrey), and Catherine (Artsci/PHE '83) (Ian Cornett Artsci鈥83); and nine grandchildren, Jack (Artsci鈥16), Marnie (Artsci'17), and Harris (Sc'00).

    Marg was born and raised in Quebec City. She began her studies at Queen鈥檚 at the age of 16 and quickly immersed herself in all that Queen鈥檚 had to offer: athletics (basketball, tennis), musical society, arts council, and more. She made lifelong friends and had many happy memories from her time at Queen鈥檚. Marg and Alec settled in Guelph where Alec practised law and Marg involved herself in the community. She was a founding member of the Guelph Light Opera Company; board member of the Edward Johnson Music Foundation, which organized the Guelph Spring Festival; served on the board of governors at the University of Guelph for many years; Canadian Federation of University Women's Club; was instrumental in establishing the Guelph Third Age Learning program; and was an active member of St Andrew's Church.

  • Black and white photo of Elizabeth McQuay 鈥 should-length hair, wearing glasses and beaded necklace.

    1980s

    Elizabeth Jean (Betty) McQuay

    鈥 Mus鈥81

    Spring 2022

    Elizabeth Jean (Betty) McQuay was the daughter of Dr. John B. McQuay (Meds鈥44) and Mary

    McQuay (苍茅别 Turnbull) 鈥 both predeceased. Betty is survived by her siblings, Marilyn (Martin) Chilton, Paul (Arts鈥71) (Marion), and Janice (Arts鈥71, B.Ed鈥73).

    Family and friends will greatly miss her smile, her sense of humour, gentleness, and kindness.

    Betty grew up in a medical family: her grandfather Russell B. McQuay (Meds鈥16) and her

    father were medical doctors, and her mother and older sister were registered nurses. In 1988 she became a registered nurse. She worked her entire nursing career at Toronto East General

    Hospital for many years in intensive care.

    Betty studied classical music, and her musical tastes were eclectic, from classical to reggae,

    African, jazz, pop, and rap. She was physically active, jogging, golfing, swimming, playing tennis, and dancing. In the last decade of Betty鈥檚 life, after she was diagnosed with scleroderma, physical activity became even more important, to help slow the progression of this disease, she continued walking three miles several times a week, right up to the end of 2020. She took up curling and lawn bowling and returned to figure skating. She also returned to the piano and enjoyed playing at family performances at a market in her home village of Mindemoya each summer. Betty visited Manitoulin as much as she could, but she loved travelling elsewhere too, often with family members. On her trips to Jamaica, a country she admired for the richness of its distinctive culture, despite the crushing poverty there, she made lasting friendships. Travelling sharpened her keen sense of social inequities.

    Betty took her last breath at Sunnybrook Hospital Palliative Care in Toronto. In the end, it was cancer that took her life, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic also claimed so many other lives.

  • Photo of Anna Matzov

    1970s

    Anna Matzov

    鈥 BA鈥70

    Spring 2022

    Anna Matzov of Kingston, Ontario, died unexpectedly on Jan. 16, 2022 at the age of 88. Vibrant, intelligent, warm, and inspiring, Anna was a remarkable woman. Despite facing extreme adversity and many challenges during her life, she was a woman of great substance and heart; her talents were many. She lived several lives in her lifetime.

    Anna was born on Dec. 24, 1933 in Pinsk, Poland (now Pinsk, Belarus). She is predeceased by her parents (Josef and Freida Furman) and her husband (Leonid Matzov). She is survived by her brother Gabriel Furman (Zipora), her children Avi Matzov (Kathryn), Irit Matzov (George) and Ron Matzov and her grandchildren Simon, Ian, Rebecca and Jonathon Matzov (Cassie). Anna was a devoted and loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, aunt and friend.

    Anna grew up under Stalin鈥檚 rule and the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. Around the age of seven, she and her family were exiled to Siberia; a very cold and unforgiving purgatory where many perished. Even as a child, she found beauty under appalling conditions: the family cow was her best friend and she developed a lifelong love for birch trees typical of Siberia. Miraculously (and ironically), Stalin saved their lives while the rest of her family in Poland tragically perished under Hitler.

    In 1946, she and her family wound up at a displaced person鈥檚 camp in Germany for four years where she started her high school studies. In 1950, they immigrated to the new state of Israel. Anna embraced her new country and life, quickly mastering Hebrew (her 5th of 6 languages). After serving in the army, she earned her first degree in 1956 (Physics, Math & Statistics) at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She followed her passion for teaching, earning her Teaching diploma a few years later. Anna started her illustrious teaching career by successfully preparing future high school math teachers at the Teaching Seminary in Tel-Aviv. At the time, they also needed a university degree. Anna broke new ground through her approach, resulting in the prerequisite for a degree being removed and establishing a new course for the Seminary and future high school math teachers. In 1967, Anna, her husband and young family immigrated to Canada, settling in Kingston in 1968 where she embarked on a new career path. In 1970, she earned a BA Honours (Russian and Math) from Queen鈥檚 University followed by her MA (1973) and PhD (1984) in Slavonic Studies from the University of Ottawa.

    Anna taught Russian language and literature at Queen鈥檚 for 30 years. She also introduced Scientific Russian, an innovative course which she taught at Queen鈥檚 and the Royal Military College.

    Throughout her distinguished academic career, Anna taught and contributed to professional literature and was part of the Learned Societies. She was a recognized authority on Boris Pasternak (Dr. Zhivago), and Mikhail Bakhtin and Literary Criticism. Her teaching attracted and inspired students from many disciplines.

    A fiercely independent thinker, Anna was a pragmatic optimist with a warm heart and querying mind. Her personal trials and tribulations, from wars to health challenges, strengthened her resolve and resilience to make the best of things. 鈥淣ever a dull moment鈥 as she would often say. Enlightened and passionate about learning, she was an inspiration, catalyst and cheerleader for many. She had a genuine interest in people of all ages and backgrounds, forging many friendships throughout her life. She found solace in family and friends. She was drawn to the many expressions of creativity, from art, music and literature to teaching, cooking and developing young minds.

    Anna valued family, friendship, loyalty, authenticity, originality, an open mind and a good soul. She strove 鈥 and succeeded 鈥 to inspire many a mind and heart to be our best selves and make the most of life. She never stopped expanding her mind 鈥 she was truly 鈥渁n amazing work in progress.鈥

    Anna was dearly loved and will be greatly missed.

  • Black and white photo of Ronald Mann, wearing glasses and a suit.

    1950s

    Ronald Francis Mann

    鈥 BSc鈥56, MSc鈥60, PhD鈥66

    Spring 2022

    Ronald Francis Mann passed away on Feb. 21, 2022 at the age of 90. He is survived by Helen (nee Lane) (Artsci鈥84), his beloved wife of 66 years; daughters Janet (Artsci鈥78, MBA鈥84) and Karen Scott (Artsci鈥82) (Jim), and son Robert (Sc鈥84) (Ellen); and four grandchildren.

    A long-time resident of Kingston, Ron鈥檚 was a life well-lived. Soldier, chemical engineer, teacher, faculty member of Royal Military College, active church member and avid genealogist 鈥 his life was a broad tapestry; he touched so many lives.

  • 1970s

    Gordon Ernest Kerr

    鈥 HBSc鈥70

    Spring 2022

    Gordon Kerr passed away on March 21, 2022. He was 74. He is survived by Muriel (nee Stone) (Arts鈥69); children, Beth (Sarah Bruer), Andrew, and Ian (Tara Anderson); grandchildren, Marshall, Kieran, Ainsley, and Teagan.

    After graduating from Queen鈥檚, Gord completed an MSc鈥72 and PhD鈥77 at the University of Toronto studying the behaviour of Carolina locusts. With the hiring market for entomologists evaporating due to government cuts to scientific research, Gord applied the computer programming skills he had learned to analyze his data to a career in the newly emerging field of computers. Gord will be remembered for the twinkle in his eye, his dedication to serving his community and, in recent years, his breeding work with golden retrievers.

  • Black and white photo of Martin Hammerli.

    1960s

    Martin Hammerli

    鈥 BSc鈥61, PhD鈥64

    Spring 2022

    Martin Hammerli passed away on Feb. 11, 2022. He is survived by his children Michael, Karen, and Heidi; his grandchildren, Kaitlyn and Ryan; sister, Cathy Moss; sister-in-law, Marjorie Hammerli; brother-in-law, Jim Metzger; and their extended families.

    He was born in Switzerland and his family immigrated to Canada in 1949. Following his degree at Queen鈥檚, he stayed to do a PhD in Physical Chemistry, and worked for many years at the Chalk River Laboratories, becoming an expert on methods of large-scale hydrogen generation as an energy source. He continued to develop his expertise in this area at the National Research Council in Ottawa, where he supported Ballard Power Systems among others, and later as a consultant. Martin was a long-time member of Alcoholics Anonymous. He provided support and a lifeline to recovery for many of his fellow members and volunteered at the Royal Ottawa Hospital for more than 10 years.