John William Birch

Died peacefully in his sleep at North York General Hospital. Much loved husband of Isabel “Frankie” née Frankland, father to Kate (Dominic), Ken (Sheryl) and Jean (José) and Grandad to Joey, Olivia, Julia, Natalie and Christopher. John was born in Nottinghamshire in the UK, completed his mining engineering degree at Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London – where he would return in 1961 for a year of graduate work. After emigrating to northern Ontario in the late 1950s via mining stints in Mexico, BC and the Yukon, he met and married Frankie in Elliot Lake in the late 50s and later settled in Saskatchewan for a decade. In the 1970s, the family moved to Toronto where he worked for the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources and Ontario Hydro. He was a long-serving member of the former Northminster United Church in Willowdale. Outside of his family, his main loves were reading, formal dancing and flying. His National Service was with the Royal Air Force and ultimately led to his gaining his pilot licence, owning an airplane and working with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. He believed in hard work, dignity and fairness. Visitation will be held at the R.S. Kane Funeral Home, 6150 Yonge St, North York, on Monday December 3rd from 10 a.m. until the time of the funeral service at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to United Church Mission and Service (www.united-church.ca) or Parkinson Canada (www.parkinson.ca).