Eulogy

I will first say that this has been a significant loss for the international research community, for our university, our faculty, and for our academic discipline and research unit.

To me, and to others here today, this also represents the loss of a mentor, and of a dear friend.

I met D in 2003, when I came to Toronto to explore the possibility of doing a PhD. In recent times, I've found out that my entry into this program was not without its challenges, and it was D that gave me the backing, and the break, that has essentially defined the robustness, and the quality of my life today.

There are only four other people that I can say this about in my life, they are my mother, my father, a previous Dean at my alma mater, and D.

When I met D, he was the great Professor, author of some of the most cogent and scholarly work on health care policy that has been produced since the 1980s. And it's important to say that his main focus wasn't even policy. Policy was to some extent an afterthought, and even here, he contributed much. I specifically appreciated his idea that in policy, we spend far too much time describing a problem, and far too little time actually trying to fix it.

And funnily enough, this was one of D's greatest gifts to me. To steadfastly analyze life's challenges, while trying not to abscond from the terrible nature of what those challenges may actually be.

In this sense, since I've known D, he's led a tenuous and frenetic life. He struggled with many things human. But he did not hide from them, and he looked straight into the fire.

I also feel that D had three levels of friendship.

Those that he's known the longest, those that he knew since this tenuous and frenetic part of his life began, and those that he knew academically. I'd argue that all of these sets of people defined a series of deeply meaningful relationships for D.

The first tell me of a man with a great joy for life, for its meaning, for its abundance. The second tell me of a man who was engaged in a great struggle with his emotions, with his decisions. The third tell me of a man that regardless of all of this, maintained a level of proficiency, respect, and professionalism, that it effectively defined a gifted intellect and administrator.

D gave me economic support when I had none.

D gave me academic support, while always respecting my ideas, at times when my arrogance and ego would not let me see the truth that lay two feet in front of me.

D gave me the freedom to explore my ideas, the freedom to make my own mistakes, and the freedom to enjoy my own victories.

Lastly, D gave me the keys to his academic enterprise, and I hope that I can do him justice.

In the end, and for some reason I feel this is very important for people to hear:

I can say without reservation that for the last three weeks of his life, D had a clarity of vision, and a sense of responsibility over his own life, that I think he did find the sense of peace and understanding that he had been searching for since the time we met.

I love you Professor.