Douglas Cameron Aziz

Douglas Cameron Aziz MD PhD no longer can crack his horrible dad jokes. Born March 19, 1956, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, he died January 19, 2024, in Manhattan Beach, CA, leaving his sons Cameron and Christopher (wife Jacqueline Pal), son Colin (Leigh Ann Wyatt), and son Ryan (Denise Wilkins-Leader), as well as his sister Louise Sidley and mother Lorna Cousins Aziz. He was predeceased by his daughter Celine and father David.

Doug excelled in school, especially in science, math, and music, and luckily for his friends was happy to share answers to keep them from failing. In the 1972 Junior Mathematics Contest, Doug was third in Canada. Upon graduation from secondary school, he was admitted to the Honor Physics program at the University of Waterloo as the Sir Isaac Newton Scholar. Despite excelling, Doug shifted focus after three years and entered medical school, graduating from the University of Western Ontario in London. To his parents’ relief, Doug finally had a college degree! After moving to Montreal for a residency in anatomical pathology, he met Dr. Jacqueline Pal, also doing her residencies through McGill University. After his residency, Doug earned a PhD in experimental medicine through McGill by developing the first animal model for AIDS. Surrounded by “only” PhD’s on the Aziz side of the family, Doug proudly called himself a “MudFud” to distinguish himself.

Shortly after the birth of Celine in Montreal, he and his family moved to San Diego, and have remained in Southern California since then, much to the happiness of their family not having to live through minus 40-degree winters. Doug’s work took him to conferences across the US, as well as to setting up pathology labs in South America, Asia, and India. His love of travel took him to nearly all US states and Canadian provinces, as well as countries in Europe and Latin America.

Addicted to sports and excitement since his youth, Doug continued his passion for skiing and water sports and added kiteboarding, white-water kayaking, and other unusual sports such as paramotoring. Video of him going down a kayak slide (which he built) from the top of his garage into his swimming pool has racked up tens of millions of views on YouTube. Doug became active with Troop 2 Boy Scouts so he could go on various camping and wilderness excursions with his sons. For many years, Doug was a member of the Ski Patrol for local mountains. Although you might think it was to take advantage of his medical degree, those of us that know him, know that patient care was not his thing, and the real reason was so he could get first tracks in the morning as well as the last run at the end of the day!

In recent years, Doug spent much of his time painting an array of subjects including women, animals, celebrities, and 4-dimensional depictions of cubes and knots. He was self-taught and developed an interesting style using acrylics and discounted Home Depot wall paints. He joined several bands, “allowing” all his neighbors to become intimately familiar with his music and hours of keyboard practice.

Living in California, Doug was proud of the days he could ski and surf in the same day. He loved living here, but never became a US citizen. He often joked he would never join a club that wouldn’t let him be their president. He even loved being called a “Resident Alien” and was bummed when his visa status card was changed to “Permanent Resident”. As a Canadian, Doug never had to serve jury duty. He often said it was great to live in the US and die in Canada. Well Doug, the final dad joke’s on you. This isn’t Canada. Eh?