Dear Gael,
 
            I along with the rest of the Canadian Historical Association community was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Desmond Morton.  He was an important scholar whose legacy will be a lasting one in the Canadian historical community, not just through his vast writings but also through the work of the students he taught and the scholars he mentored over many years. He was also a fervent supporter of the Canadian Historical Association, having been a life member since 1980. 
 
We are all better for having known him.
 
Please accept my deepest sympathy for your loss.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Penny Bryden
 
P. E. Bryden
President, Canadian Historical Association/Présidente, Société historique du Canada
Professor of History
University of Victoria
Victoria BC
 


Dear Gael,

My deepest sympathies and condolences for the loss of your husband "Des" - truly a Great Canadian!
As you may recall, I met you and Des on several occasions, after he had given various public military lectures at McGill. 

Afterwards we always had thought provoking discussions on the lesser known Canadian military subject of: “Why 40,000 Canadians (BNA) served & fought in the American Civil War" In fact one day he actually showed up at my then downtown office, to "continue on" with this subject. (Definitely a humbling experience)

So I shall certainly miss Des, with his encyclopedic mind and hope to re-open these discussions with him again, when we meet at the Pearly gates...

God Bless & Rest in Peace Sir!

Bob McLachlan
former LCol Comd - CGG, Montreal


My deepest condolences to the family of Dr. Desmond Morton. It was always my hope to meet him in person but, unfortunately, I never did. 
He honoured me greatly, however, by offering to write the introduction to my oral history of WW2, THEY WERE SO YOUNG, Montrealers Remember World War II. which was published in 2002. What came through in this introduction was his respect and love for those who served and continue to serve our country in uniform.
Patricia Burns
Montreal 

I had the pleasure of taking two courses with Des in the early 2000’s at McGill. His lectures were riveting and inspiring, and I always looked forward to them. On one occasion, he brought Brian Mulroney to our class, it was so cool for a political junkie. I realized then what a big deal Des was! Des is one of only two profs I can vividly recall. He even invited us over for a Halloween party one year. He was very special, truly in a class of his own. It’s hard to believe that he is no longer with us. My heartfelt condolences to his family, I can only imagine the loss you feel.

Sincerely, Andrea Noakes

Gael,
C'est avec tristesse et chagrin que nous avons appris le décès de votre conjoint : feu Desmond.
Que le courage vous accompagne pour surmonter cette épreuve .
Amitiés. 
Rita et Jacques Lachance 


A wonderful kind man, engaging teacher and leader in the fields of Canadian history and Canadian studies.

Desmond Morton was by turns my boss, my mentor, my teacher and most importantly, my friend.

He was a true rarity - kind, capable with a huge heart and quick wit. You have left this world a better place my friend.

My sincere condolences to the family. 





Dear Gael,
On behalf of your many friends and colleagues at the Stanstead Historical Society / Colby-Curtis Museum, I would like to express my heartfelt condolences...
Des was one of a kind and will be missed by us all.

Our sympathies to the entire family,

Matthew Farfan
President, Stanstead Historical Society / Colby-Curtis Museum

Au nom des Ancien(ne)s du Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, le Chapitre Fort Saint-Jean souhaite exprimer ses sincères condoléances à la famille et aux amis en ces moments douloureux.

Dear Gael and family,

I am so sad for your loss.  Desmond was not only a brillant historian but he was also a kind human being on right side of all the good and worthy causes.  He will be dearly missed.

My heartfelt sympathies to you, his children and all his family.

Warmest regards,

Ginette Lamontagne


I was greatly saddened to hear about the passing of the one and only Des Morton today.

I was lucky enough to occupy an office next to his during my time at MISC. Every day, rain, shine, or snow, he would walk up the hill and three flights of stairs to his beloved office.

In addition to being a very nice and VERY smart person, he had a fantastic sense of humour.

I was lucky to know him as I began my career in academic communications, and he has left behind an amazing legacy.

To Gael, I send my love to you and your family. You and Des were the definition of a team, and I was lucky to know you both.

Goodbye, Des - you will be missed. I hope very much that you and fellow MISC legend Gretta Chambers are cracking jokes together somewhere.

On behalf of the Department of Historical Studies, University of Toronto Mississauga (formerly Erindale College) please accept our sincere condolences.

On behalf of the members of the Georgeville Historical Society, I would like to extend our condolences to the families of Des Morton and Geal Eakin. Judy and I had the pleasure of dining with Des and Gael at the Georgeville Nature Ski annual dinners over the last few years. Conversations with Des were always wide ranging and interesting. I was impressed by the depth of his knowledge of Canadian military history.  We shared a common interest in the history of Canada and in particular the challenge of making history education relevant and engaging for the students we taught. He was quite a presence and will be missed.

Keith Wilcox

President, Georgeville Historical Society

I interviewed Des several times for television history documentaries. He was so charming and insightful that sometimes I’d make up a reason to interview him, though the subject was not directly related to his work.  Here’s one such excerpt. https://www.blacklocks.ca/guest_commentary/the-good-years/ 
Later, I launched an online news website www.blacklocks.ca in the teeth of a media recession. He subscribed, I think, just to be supportive. I did not have the heart to cash his last cheque but I will share an image of the encouraging note that accompanied the payment.  Those will be saved forever as cherished memories of a great Canadian and a unique gentleman. 

I first met Des in 1994, when he was the External Examiner for my PhD dissertation at York. He was incredibly kind and generous at that time, and he remained so throughout our friendship. I always looked forward to seeing him at the archives in Ottawa, for he always had an amusing anecdote from whatever papers he was looking at. He also occasionally had a pant leg tucked into one of his socks, which made him even more charming. Thanks for everything, Des - you will be sorely missed.

des morton was not only a great canadian military  historian ,he was a person with a great heart. des morton was my friend. fred gaffen

I was in Dr. Morton's class in the winter of 2016, it was my first class in Canadian military history. Dr. Morton showed excitement when he saw that I was an international student from France, and always greeted me in French and asked me for my input as a foreigner. He made me feel included in a class on a topic I knew little about. 

After the semester, I had asked him to write me a recommendation letter for graduate school, which he enthusiastically accepted to do. Always with these very benevolent eyes. A semester later, when he wrote me that letter, he asked me to come and see him: he said how he believed I should write a thesis and go to Queen's University. And I did, and I am forever grateful for the direction that he gave me, 

He was a fascinating and passionate professor that let students experiment with new ideas, asking us to surprise him and engage him the best way we could. He always made sure we felt welcome, both in class and when he invited us for dinner (beautifully hosted by his wife, Gael). 

There are always those professors that we forget. The name of Desmond Morton is certainly printed in my memory. Not because he was a talented historian, but because he was a wonderful professor and a fantastic mentor. 

So thank you, Prof. Morton. And Gael, I present to you my deepest sympathies. 



L'historien Morton, une inspiration, des encouragements dans mes recherches. Une pilier de l'histoire militaire canadienne. Je me sens privilégié qu'il ait pu croiser mon chemin.

I had the distinct pleasure of studying under Professor Morton  in 1986 while he was Principal of Erindale College, University of Toronto.  In short order we became fast friends and shared the love of Canadian history more particularly that of Canada's  military history and wars. Des was modest by nature but when prodded he would share his own distinguished family's military history and  chronicle their service to Canada. Son  and grandson  of Canadian generals he was ,it could be argued, living history himself. His grandfather was none other than General Sir William Dillon Otter, our first Canadian general.   Canada has truly lost one of our best historians and an even better person. My sincere condolences to his Family.

Paul J. Thorne

It’s very seldom that you meet a university professor that is also capable of being a teacher. All I can say now is you inspired me and I know many others
as well.

I remember only two professors out of 40 from University, you were one of them.  I have a lot to say but I’ll start with thanks.

Thank you for telling me to go back and re-write my essay, that I didn’t need an extension because two hours still existed until it was due. 

Thank you for pushing me to challenge you and teach you something new.

Thank you for inviting us into your home every semester and letting us eat and drink with you while you still gave us words of wisdom.

Thank you for making me, along with Claude Belanger of Marianopolis, passionate about Canadian history.

Thank you for teaching me to respect support staff by not letting us hand in our papers to secretaries because you said delivering papers was not their job. They had, and did, have way more important things to do. 

Thank you for not letting me give you bs excuses and making me take responsibility, but also thank you for those many second chances.

Thank you for telling me “Mr. MacLeod.... write SHORT DECLARATIVE SENTENCES”:

Thank you for writing us always personal feedback on our term papers, never shy of giving us the tough love we needed. 

You were a mentor, a treasure of Canadian Historians and a true teacher in a world of mindless academic elitism that was McGill. 

Thank you Professor Morton.

Professor Morton was a dear mentor and colleague to many fortunate students, and of course a brilliant historian.  I count myself one such student, who 20 years ago, took every course offered by Des at McGill University.  He brought to life what many consider to be a prosaic past, and helped foster in his students a deep appreciation for the hard struggles overcome, and impressive accomplishments achieved, in Canada. 

I owe much of my current success as a personal injury lawyer to Professor Morton.  Not only did he hone my skills as a debater, writer, and story-teller, but he instilled empathy for the less fortunate and a desire to make right what is wrong.

Des' lessons live on.  

May he rest in peace and regale the heavens with his tales!

Desmond should be remembered as a great storyteller. He was a keeper of an amazing array of anecdotes of all the interesting characters he met throughout his life. He was kind and generous, with his time most of all. He also listened well to people of all ages and positions, never talking down to others even though he most likely had the upper hand on knowledge, experience and authority. This made him an ideal leader of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada - he truly believed in dialogue and sharing of perspectives. 

Meeting and coming to know Desmond P. Morton had a truly profound impact upon me.  As a Canadian historian, public intellectual, and mentor, I admired him greatly and was truly honoured to consider him a friend. 

We connected in the early 1980s through the History and Social Science Teacher journal and the Ontario History and Social Science Teachers Association, where he influenced a whole generation of Canadian history teachers. We got along very well right from the start.  Together we worked on identifying worthy recipients for the HSST Teaching Excellence Award.  He invited me to be an author in the Century of Canada series (Grolier 1986) and I attended his installation as President of Erindale College, University of Toronto.  Many of my former Canadian history students studied with Des at University of Toronto and McGill.  Our paths crossed again when we both ended up in Montreal in the late 1990s and we worked together on a couple of other projects, his brainchild -- the Biennial National History Conference --and my pet project -- the Historica Institute for Secondary School Teaching Excellence. I turned to Des, time and time again, for thoughtful conversations and even advice about career decisions. I always looked forward to his hand-written notes and letters -- and sought out opportunities to share lunch with him upon my return visits to Montreal.  We had great times together just commenting upon contemporary political issues, talking about policy issues, or sharing seemingly eccentric, but common, historical interests. 

My thoughts and condolences to Gael: It was obvious to me that you brought such joy to his life soon after his arrival in Montreal.  God bless you, Gael, and those closest to the family.  Count me among those who share that profound sense of loss. 

Gael and family. We are saddened to learn of the passing of Des Morton, fellow Ex Cadet and highly esteemed Canadian. We extend to you or sincere condolences and wish you comfort and peace at this time.
J. R. Digger MacDougall
 President Ottawa Branch
Royal Military College Club of Canada


Desmond - a great Montrealer, Quebecer and Canadian. 
A military historian par excellence.
A loss to our society and especially to all of us who believe that only through history do we learn how to act in the present and in the future.
I remember him from our years at College Militaire Royal de St-Jean CMR.
As a fellow member of the Old Brigade I last saw him at an annual parade in Kingston.
My sincere regrets to his wife, Gael Eakin.
RIP

I was Professor Morton's Teaching Assistant in Canadian History in 1997-98 as well as a past Fellow of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, and Professor Morton was on my PhD defence committee in 2004.  He taught me how to teach, how to chair a meeting, how to grade students (end with praise if the student is weak but did something well; end with a bit of a fair critique if the student is strong because everybody stands to improve), and we would have this running conversation about the "truthfulness" of history that always began with his saying, "Cat eats mouse... Whether the cat or the mouse's mother tells the story changes everything!"  And I can't forget his favourite expression at the time: "Imagine that!"  I'm very glad I had the privilege of knowing him just before he retired. He was certainly a fine historian and a reputed professor at McGill, but to me he was above all a great teacher, a man who believed in passing on what he had learned himself and who did it with kindness and intelligence, and I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his family.

OBITUARY

Desmond Morton

10 September, 1937 – 4 September, 2019

Résidences funéraires Collins Clarke MacGillvray White Funeral Homes

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