Mike was brilliantly witty, never at a loss for a one-liner. He was cynical but always enthuiastic about life and living. He loved to ski, racing down the slopes with the wind and snow blasting against his face. In high school Mike was the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics champion and he traveled all over Canada demonstrating speedreading. Audience members would bring books and lay them on the table in front of him. He would pick one up, read it in ten minutes and then answer questions on it. I've never seen anything like it. Here is his wedding with Dixie Ingram; their young daughter Jennifer is playing under the table! At UBC we studied together and Mike became my best friend. From him I finally learned to apply myself. We kept up our contact after graduation while Mike went on to the University of Toronto, earning an M.Sc. in theoretical physics; then an M.D. degree, then a Ph.D. in Anatomy, and then a specialty in Rehabilitation Medicine, eventually working in a clinical setting. He was the most highly schooled person I've ever known. He suffered as his marriage slowly fell apart, and then, just as he was getting his life back together he discovered that he had an incurable degenerative disease, which he fought with optimism and humour. Mike changed the world and it is a better place because of him.
(see also: http://www.markgoresky.org/Misc/starbucks.html)
MENARD Dr. Michael Reald Dr. Michael Reald Menard, 59, passed away Saturday, January 17, 2009 at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, Ontario. Born in Calgary, Alberta on February 14, 1949. Mike was very much loved and admired and will always be fondly remembered by many. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Erin Ellison; mother Sibyl; sister Renae Knott (Darryl), brothers Bob (Tammy) and Jim (Heather); three children (with first wife, Dixie Ingram): daughters Sarah and Jennifer (Scott Chernoff); son Tyler. He was preceded in death by his father Reald. Throughout a career beginning with undergraduate degrees in physics, and continuing through combined MD/PhD into the specialty of Rehabilitation Medicine, he had been a researcher into fields as diverse as cloud physics, physiology of frog muscle, and magnetic spectra in exercise. His professional affiliations included professor of anatomy at the University of British Columbia, consultant physiatrist at St. Paul's Hospital and Workers' Compensation Board in Vancouver, and director of physiatry with the Auckland Health Board in New Zealand. In lieu of flowers, donations to a favourite charity would be appreciated. A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, January 31 at 12:30 p.m. at the Coast Plaza Hotel., 1763 Comox St., Vancouver. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/vancouversun/obituary.aspx?n=michael-reald-menard&pid=123209504&eid=sp_shareobit#sthash.oNe92dva.dpuf
Mark Goresky
Mike was brilliantly witty, never at a loss for a one-liner. He was cynical but always enthuiastic about life and living. He loved to ski, racing down the slopes with the wind and snow blasting against his face. In high school Mike was the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics champion and he traveled all over Canada demonstrating speedreading. Audience members would bring books and lay them on the table in front of him. He would pick one up, read it in ten minutes and then answer questions on it. I've never seen anything like it. Here is his wedding with Dixie Ingram; their young daughter Jennifer is playing under the table! At UBC we studied together and Mike became my best friend. From him I finally learned to apply myself. We kept up our contact after graduation while Mike went on to the University of Toronto, earning an M.Sc. in theoretical physics; then an M.D. degree, then a Ph.D. in Anatomy, and then a specialty in Rehabilitation Medicine, eventually working in a clinical setting. He was the most highly schooled person I've ever known. He suffered as his marriage slowly fell apart, and then, just as he was getting his life back together he discovered that he had an incurable degenerative disease, which he fought with optimism and humour. Mike changed the world and it is a better place because of him.
(see also: http://www.markgoresky.org/Misc/starbucks.html)
Allison White (Shand)
MENARD Dr. Michael Reald Dr. Michael Reald Menard, 59, passed away Saturday, January 17, 2009 at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, Ontario. Born in Calgary, Alberta on February 14, 1949. Mike was very much loved and admired and will always be fondly remembered by many. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Erin Ellison; mother Sibyl; sister Renae Knott (Darryl), brothers Bob (Tammy) and Jim (Heather); three children (with first wife, Dixie Ingram): daughters Sarah and Jennifer (Scott Chernoff); son Tyler. He was preceded in death by his father Reald. Throughout a career beginning with undergraduate degrees in physics, and continuing through combined MD/PhD into the specialty of Rehabilitation Medicine, he had been a researcher into fields as diverse as cloud physics, physiology of frog muscle, and magnetic spectra in exercise. His professional affiliations included professor of anatomy at the University of British Columbia, consultant physiatrist at St. Paul's Hospital and Workers' Compensation Board in Vancouver, and director of physiatry with the Auckland Health Board in New Zealand. In lieu of flowers, donations to a favourite charity would be appreciated. A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, January 31 at 12:30 p.m. at the Coast Plaza Hotel., 1763 Comox St., Vancouver. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/vancouversun/obituary.aspx?n=michael-reald-menard&pid=123209504&eid=sp_shareobit#sthash.oNe92dva.dpuf