Dr. John Bernard Shea

It is with sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of Dr. John Shea on the morning of Tuesday, February 11, 2020 in Toronto, in his 94th year.

Dr. Shea was born in Galway, Ireland on April 25, 1926 to an eminent medical and academic family where he graduated medical school with first class honors. Dr. Shea emigrated to Canada in 1955 where as an intern he met his wife of 62 years, Janet Casey, at St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto.

After training in Radiology, Dr. Shea obtained his FRCP(C) fellowship. In 1967 Dr. Shea became the first Chief of Radiology in the newly founded Centenary Health Centre in Scarborough providing radiological care to residents across the eastern half of the GTA for 29 years and played a leading role in the advancement of care through the hospital serving as the chair of its Medical Advisory Board and Credentials Committee. Dr. Shea was a central figure in the advancement of groundbreaking diagnostic tools in Canada such as early adoption of ultrasound technology and pioneering imaging techniques.

Dr. Shea was also a widely read and inquisitive researcher and he co-published with the eminent Toronto Symphony Orchestra principal bassoonist Christopher Weiat identifying new insights into how the body actually operates when playing a wind instrument.

Dr. Shea was an accomplished pianist and faithful patron of music students in Toronto for many years.

He was also a very widely read and published scholar in the multiple intersections of philosophy, and moral theology especially as it applies to the ethical practice of medicine. His reputation for excellence in this field constitutes arguably his greatest achievement and extended internationally far beyond Canada. He was sought out as the premier advisor on practical and moral issues for scholars and physicians all over the world including the church in Rome.

Dr. Shea was a founder and first president of the Catholic Doctor’s Guild and served as president of the Marguerite Bourgeoys Society for natural family planning.

A man of prayer and long a lion for the life rights of all vulnerable patients from conception to natural death, he left an indelible impact upon the discussion of the ethical and moral practice of medicine in Canada and across the world.

Dr. Shea leaves his wife Janet and children Peter, Daniel, Gregory, Mary and Pauline, nineteen grandchildren as well as great-grandchildren.

Friends may visit at the Kane-Jerrett Funeral Home, 6191 Yonge Street, North York (South of Steeles Avenue) on Monday February 17th 5-9 p.m. Funeral Mass on Tuesday February 18th at 11:30 a.m. at St. Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic Church, 75 Churchill Avenue, North York. Interment at Holy Cross Cemetery, Thornhill. Online condolences may be made at www.jerrettfuneralhometoronto.com