Robert Ernest Mcgorman

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick to Ernest McGorman and Marion Constance (Connie) Magee McGorman, Robert passed away on Feb. 16, 2022 in Victoria, B.C. from Melanoma, complicated by Scleroderma and Sjogren’s Disease.

He leaves his beloved wife of 40 years, Joan (Colquhoun); daughter Kathleen McGorman (Matthew Veillette); son Simon McGorman of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and precious grandchildren, Pia, Matthew and Rose Veillette of Victoria; brother Owen McGorman (formerly of Calgary, now in Thailand); also four cousins and many friends.  He was predeceased by his parents and five cousins.

Bob often expressed appreciation for his excellent education.  In 1964 Bob graduated from St. Malachy’s High School in Saint John.  He was at the top of the class and Valedictorian. That spring he had placed first in New Brunswick in the Canadian Mathematical Congress competition which resulted in a scholarship from CMC.  Bob studied at McGill University with the prestigious J.W. McConnell scholarship, receiving his B.Sc. (Honours Mathematics) in 1968.  He then went to the University of British Columbia where he was awarded the H. R. MacMillan Family Fellowship, National Research Council scholarship, as well as a teaching fellowship.  He completed his M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics and Oceanography in 1972.  During his studies at UBC he published two significant papers on wave motion and fluid mechanics. Also during this time, Bob climbed Mount Baker, Washington with two of his friends from UBC.

It may have been the transcontinental train trip from Saint John to Vancouver which ignited Bob’s interest in travel and adventure.  After finishing at UBC he was fortunate to have his brother Owen with him for several months in Europe, then later on many other trips.  On another six-month adventure he travelled through East Africa, including Tanzania where he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and Ethiopia where he visited a friend from UBC who was teaching in Addis Ababa.  Bob went to Khartoum in Sudan and crossed the Nubian Desert on the top of a train to Egypt, and sailed down the Nile for several days on a felucca, dressed as a local to avoid the attention of river pirates.  He visited the Great Pyramids and rode a camel.

After teaching high school math and science for two years, and several research contracts, Bob attended the University of Miami for an MBA (on full scholarship).

Thereupon he was offered a position in Ottawa with Bell Canada in August 1978.  This led to an interesting and satisfying career with Bell Northern Research (BNR) and Northern Telecom (Nortel Networks), mainly research with applied math and statistics.  He published a number of papers and presented at conferences, including internationally in Torino, Philadelphia, Sydney,  and elsewhere.

Shortly thereafter Bob met a music librarian, Joan Colquhoun, who had just begun working at the National Library of Canada. They started their lives together, lives full of a deeply shared love of music, literature, world events, and wonderful friends.

In 1988 Bob was asked to transfer for several years to BNR’s expanding lab at Research Triangle Park near Raleigh, North Carolina.   This was another interesting adventure for the family of four. Bob maintained his love of travel, sometimes meeting up with Owen in Europe, New York or San Francisco.  As Kathleen and Simon grew older, Joan and Bob took them on three trips to Europe.

After retiring (Dec. 2004) Bob and Joan returned to Canada, first to Toronto for about two years, then back to Ottawa.  Plans for more major travel in retirement were curtailed by health problems.  After Kathleen and Matt settled in Victoria, it became clear that moving there would allow the family to be close to them, in a milder environment. Melanoma was first diagnosed just a week after arriving in Victoria in September 2019.

Bob was a dedicated and loving husband, father, and grandfather.  He was very kind and gentle, creative and witty with a marvelously strange sense of humour.  He had a brilliant mind but he was always modest and nice.  He enjoyed many kinds of music, from Classical and Baroque to Rock and Blue Grass.  He liked to make up amusing original stories for adults and children. Kathleen and Simon particularly remember “Mayhem the Monkey” getting into mischief with each story told by their Dad.

On recent, increasingly difficult oceanside walks, Bob was always delighted if Mount Baker could be seen. Bob’s slipping away February 16th, with Joan, Kathleen and Baby Rose at his side, leaves family and friends mourning his passing, but fondly remembering what he softly and cleverly brought to each and every encounter.

If you would like to make a charitable donation in Bob’s memory, please consider a memorial donation to the Sjogren’s Society or the Scleroderma Society for research into these rare diseases which affected Bob and made the melanoma so difficult to treat.