Karen Sparks 

Entered October 28, 2021

Very sorry for your loss. It was a privilege to know Douglas. Gone too soon.

Henrianna Pang 

Entered October 29, 2021

Deepest Sympathy

Ronald Kluger 

Entered October 29, 2021 from Toronto ON

I am saddened by the loss of our long-time colleague. I offer Mary my sincere condolences. May Doug's memory be a blessing and his life be a testament of the love he gave.

Sheryl Mercer (Oh Douggie)

Entered October 29, 2021 from Toronto

So sorry that you've left us, Doug. You were such fun, such a great person. You introduced me to opera, remember? I thought, "There must be something to opera because so many people like it." So of course who would I turn to but Doug? I asked him how I could go about familiarizing myself with opera. "Listen to La Traviata," he said. I took out an album set from the CBC Record Library, listened to it over and over and fell in love with opera. Thank you, Doug! We had such fun in our younger days, singing, rehearsing, laughing, singing some more, laughing some more. I will miss you, Doug, very very much.

Sandra G Guinness 

Entered October 29, 2021

Dear Mary, Elizabeth, and Mirella,
We were so sorry to learn of Doug's passing. Condo Christmas parties will not be the same without him. May you know comfort and peace at this time of grief. Your neighbors in Phase two, Robin and Sandra Guinness

Douglas was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2006 but was asymptomatic. until 2010. He underwent his first rounds of chemotherapy in 2010, shortly after our twin daughters were born. He continued with routine chemotherapy and remained fairly stable, with some hospitalizations, until 2020.

In the fall of 2020, Douglas was hospitalized because of infection. He had a surplus of abnormal white blood cells that the doctors believed were crowding out the production of all his normal blood cells. After a round of aggressive chemotherapy, the cancer cells decreased, but his stem cells appeared to be damaged and would not produce normal red blood cells to carry oxygen, platelets to prevent bleeding, and white blood cells to fight infection (aplastic anemia, pancytopenia). As a result, Douglas got infections, was very weak, and had internal bleeding - and so was hospitalized for weeks, discharged for a short time, then re-admitted to save his life from infections that would be trivial for people with normal blood cells.

Once discharged, he had to go to PMH twice a week for day-long transfusions for platelets and blood to stay alive, with the hope that his stem cells would recover in the absence of the toxic chemotherapy drugs - and he did this for almost a year.

Despite the unbelievably difficult circumstances he had to endure, Douglas was always determined to live each day as he always did - enjoying life to the fullest, usually with his beloved music and movies, teaching the girls, and spending time with his family.

He was amazingly brave and strong - and was really determined to beat this despite the impossible odds. Although his body was ravaged by cancer and its complications, Douglas' mind and spirit were unscarred - and he remained true to himself and had dignity until the end of his mortal life.

But Douglas lives forever in the hearts and minds of everyone who had the privilege of knowing him - especially in me and our girls.

Douglas was truly the most remarkable human being and my soul mate - and I am so grateful for every precious moment that I got to spend with my forever love.

I first met Douglas in CHM 150Y when I started my studies at the University of Toronto in 1987. I was in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Specialist program and was intimidated by the large class sizes at UofT. Douglas was the Tutor for CHM150Y – and these tutorials were a more comfortable place for me to learn. Douglas was a great teacher and always explained things clearly and with a sense of humour. He was always patient with questions, listened, and encouraged all the students – but there were no short cuts; you had to work to succeed.

In 3rd year, I was enrolled in his Instrumental Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. I had a knack for problem solving, analysis, working with instruments, and writing reports – so eventually started to pursue undergraduate research opportunities in analytical chemistry. I ended up doing a 3rd year research project with Prof. Mike Thompson and my 4th year research project and M.Sc. with Prof. Alex Harrison – and whenever things got stressful, I knew I could thrash things out with Douglas.

At the end of the day, Douglas usually went CD shopping at SAM the Record Man and HMV – and I often went along since I loved collecting classic movies. We ate at Lindy’s and Lick’s Homeburgers. (a bygone age)

I found out that Douglas loved to sing and act - and he was happy to sell me tickets to see him perform, and take me to rehearsals, for his numerous Gilbert & Sullivan shows - so much fun! His G & S friends were like his second family - and many are our friends to this day.

I think the loss of his chemistry colleague, Dave Priddle, was the first thing that drew us together. I helped him through a tough time.

Then we found out we had a lot of things in common – a sense of fun, laughing, morals; a passion for learning and teaching; an appreciation of history, Sherlock Holmes, Churchill, FDR, the Beatles, Pavarotti; and a love of classic movies. Then there were the things that we each loved that we did not have in common – Douglas was classical music wrapped up in physical form, and I was existential humanism, Eastern philosophy, and Doctor Who incarnate. But it was these differences that made our lives richer and more interesting.

In 1993, I graduated with my M.Sc. in Analytical Chemistry and the Leafs returned to respectability. During a Leafs playoff game, Douglas proposed and I accepted. We were married in 1994 and embarked on a lifetime of adventures together.

Finally, in 2010, after years of disappointment, we were blessed with our beloved twin girls, Elizabeth and Mirella. What a joy!

Through all the happy moments and challenges, Douglas and I have walked together every step of the way. We spent most of our lives enjoying being with each other and living in the moment. We truly loved each other more than ourselves - we are the best part of each other. Until we meet again, Doug-Doug my forever love.

“Life is God’s gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to God – make it a fantastic one. And have a blast doing it!” - Leo Buscaglia, "The Art of Being Fully Human"

It is with profound sadness that we also must announce the passing of long-time Society member, Dr. Douglas McIntosh, this very day, October 26, 2021. I met Doug through the Society many years ago. I’ve spent many a happy hour in rehearsals with Doug, onstage in Society productions, and at members’ meetings years ago, and having a great time post-rehearsal and post-show at various restaurants, and at parties. What fun we’ve had. In recent years, Doug, his dear wife, Mary, and their darling daughters Elizabeth and Mirella, now aged 11, have kept me entertained at get-togethers. Doug, my dear friend, I’ll miss you.

Doug performed as a fabulous chorus member in quite a few G&S shows in the 1980s, and as a lead in several St. Pat’s Players productions as well. He starred in the Society’s “HMS Pinafore” as the Monarch of the Sea, Sir Joseph Porter. I was in the chorus and loved Doug’s entrance. He had panache. You knew it when he came onstage. There he was! Doug was blessed with talent – a great voice, dancing ability, acting ability. I always thought he could have gone professional – but that’s a hard life, as we all know.

Instead, Doug obtained his doctorate and became a lecturer then professor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. He researched, taught, was very involved in the Research Opportunity Program, and supervised undergraduate research projects of second year students. There may be more but at this point, I haven’t seen a full write-up of his life. Doug wrote the following in his bio on the U of T website: “My interests in vibrational analysis focus on the Normal Coordinate analysis of small to medium sized inorganic, coordination and metal cluster compounds of current importance using density-functional molecular orbital computational techniques. The recent publication of my theoretical paper detailing not only the theory of the transformation of force constants from Cartesian Coordinate space into the well-known Wilson-Decius F matrix elements but also the listing of the computer program to perform this transformation has allowed the vibrational results obtained from the Gaussian program to be completely analyzed within the context of the Wilson-Decius FG Matrix Method. Along with Dr. Michael Peterson, I am the coauthor of a series of internationally recognized computer programs which allow for the complete Normal Coordinate analysis of any finite molecule of moderate size within the FG matrix method.”

If you can understand that, then you have a mind comparable to Doug’s. I certainly don’t. I always called Doug “Doctor Douggie.” We bumped into each other on the subway a few years ago. When he saw me, his arms opened wide and I walked happily into his great big hug. Doctor Douggie, there’s only ever been one of you, and I’ll miss you something awful.