Paul Anthony Fitzner

Ottawa, Ontario

Paul Anthony Fitzner passed away on October 19, 2023. His passing occurred peacefully, in his sleep, while overnighting at a convent in Southern France where he was completing the final legs of his seventh Camino walk. This last walk was from Mont Saint-Michel to Bordeaux. His final hours were spent in the company of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Mercy and a few fellow travelers. That evening he enjoyed a meal in good company, good humour and laughter while practicing his conversational French with his new acquaintances.

Paul leaves behind a heartbroken family including his mother, Teresa Fitzner, sister Diane Breen, and brothers Patrick (Roberta), Bruce (Angela), and Peter (Shari) Fitzner. He was predeceased by his sister Claire Louise Fitzner and his father Stanley Joseph Fitzner. He also leaves behind his aunt and uncle, Barb and Pierre Trépanier of Gatineau, Quebec, as well as his nephews and nieces - Dan and Steven Fitzner, Julia and Stephanie Fitzner, Greg Breen, Courtney (Breen) Wicklund and Lisa Breen, Matthew and Victoria Sullivan, Luke and Emily Fitzner and many cousins and extended family members.

Paul was born in Ottawa in 1964, but grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he was a member of St. Agnes Parish as well as a graduate of St. Patrick’s High School. He went on to post graduate studies at the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie University), graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering degree.

For the past 27 years of his career, Paul has worked for the Government of Canada, first joining the Canadian Intellectual Property Office as an examiner in the Mechanical Division of the Patent Branch. He later was appointed senior examiner, and subsequently headed the formal training program for new patent examiners.

Paul was appointed a member of the Patent Appeal Board in 2006 and was involved in the reviews of appeals from the Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical and Biotechnology divisions of the Patent Branch. His expertise in patent law and jurisprudence led to extensive involvement in Federal Court cases involving patent appeals. Paul also served two terms as member of the Patent Agents Examination Board.

Throughout his life Paul was an adventurer, travelling to many interesting foreign destinations, sometimes accompanied by his lifelong friend Greg Jones, sometimes with family members like his first Camino de Santiago with his uncle Pete, and a subsequent Camino with his sister Claire, or sometimes alone. He loved going to France, walking through the French countryside, practicing his French, visiting churches and other religious and historic sites, and meeting and forming friendships with fellow travelers he met along the way.

Paul had the biggest and softest heart, and was generous to fault, treating family and friends to many, many concerts, sporting events, and restaurant outings over the years. He always placed others concerns ahead of his own. This included even spiders that he would carefully get on a piece of paper and let outside rather than see them hurt.

Paul was life-long music fan, seeing more artists and attending more concerts than most people would see in 10 lifetimes. His collection of music rivalled that of Columbia Records, and featured every style and genre of music one could imagine from classical to punk rock. He was always a full voiced singing participant at family gatherings, leading the annual singing of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” at last year’s Christmas dinner. In recent years he enjoyed learning to play the guitar under the tutelage of his cousin Louis Trépanier. When the guitar’s inevitably broke out at family gatherings, he would be encouraged to just bang out the chords rock n’ roll style like the rest of his brothers did, but he would steadfastly refuse saying “that’s not the way Lou is teaching me”.

Paul was a big sports fan and a season ticket holder for the Ottawa Red Blacks, taking his brothers and his uncle Pete to the infamous snow bowl Grey Cup in 2017. He was also an avid golfer although by most accounts not the fastest player. His pre-shot routine was a majestic display of precision. Arriving at his ball he would assess the situation, return to the cart for a club, return to the cart for his range finder to check the yardage, return to the cart for another club, then stand over the ball for period of time best described as minutes rather than seconds as he calmed his nerves and steeled his focus for the shot about to be delivered. He would then draw back the club slowly and deliberately before unleashing a smash that went about 20 yards to the right into the rough, at the same time as golf balls from the group behind began whizzing by his golf mates ears.

Paul was a very private person, but also very quick witted and always two or three thoughts ahead of everybody else in his thinking. Unfortunately, this forward thinking didn’t always leave a lot of time for the present resulting in a long string of bank cards left in machines, lost wallets, house keys, forgotten PIN numbers, missed flights, and Christmas gifts left at home or in cabs. Never one to stress over such situations he would just shrug and say, “Oh this happens all the time to me. Someone will call me in a few days and it will all get straightened out”.

Paul was also a serious and competitive board game player. This was the case regardless of the opponent he faced. No matter if they were under 8 years old, or old with poor eyesight, the “rules were the rules”.

Paul rarely missed a special occasion or holiday with his family and travelled home from Ottawa several times a year to visit. In his last visit this summer, he came home to spend a week with his mother who was recovering from hip surgery.

Paul ended his worldly pilgrimage in the place he loved, doing what he loved doing, with a heart full of joy and optimism. His earthly travels have now ended, but his eternal journey has just begun. Walk on Paul, through the beautiful countryside and landscapes of France. Walk on past the churches, the local people, the flowers and the trees. Walk on with a warm and gentle breeze helping you along the way to your next destination. Walk on pilgrim walk on.

There will be a visitation at JA Snow Funeral Home, 339 Lacewood Drive, Halifax, on Thursday November 9, 2023, from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. A funeral mass will be held at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church, 6903 Mumford Road, Halifax, on Friday November 10, 2023 at 10:00 am with reception to follow in the parish hall. The funeral mass will also be live-streamed at goodshepherdns.com website address https://goodshepherdns.com with live feed starting at 9:55 am AST.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Paul’s memory can be made to Toy Mountain Ottawa, https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/toy-mountain, or to a charity of your choosing.