Dr. Jerry Zownir…Doctor, Father, Teacher, Athlete

Dr. Jerry Zownir passed away peacefully and in the company of his family on Tuesday February 6, 2018 after a long illness.
His beloved sons Mark (Kristin), Jeff (Laura) and Chris were constant companions over his last weeks, sharing a lifetime of memories together while enjoying his jazz favourites. Jerry will be greatly missed by his many nieces and nephews and extended family but especially by his granddaughters Sofia and Vikorija who celebrated his last birthday with him on February 2nd.

Jerry was a dedicated father to his sons, always supporting them in every endeavor and pursuit, be it sports, academics or travel. Although his sons have all taken diverse paths in life, he always provided unending and unconditional support, even when he’d sometimes question their decisions, which in time we all realized was only out of his care and love.

Jerry was a man of humble beginnings and his humility was a defining trait throughout his life. His initial claim to fame was as the first male baby born on Siscoe Island, Quebec near Val D’Or on February 2, 1936 to Klym and Katherine Zownir, immigrants from the Ukraine who arrived in Canada with nothing, and as the younger brother to Stefania and Jane who have pre-deceased him. When Jerry was 8 years old they moved to Toronto and Jerry began his lifetime journey in the growing city. Jerry grew up on Bathurst Street and was very involved in the local Ukrainian Community and CYO where he excelled at hockey, basketball and football and built life long friendships including with his sister Jane’s future husband Stan who also pre-deceased him. He attended Vaughan Road Collegiate where his passion and skill for football really took hold. Rather than pursue university varsity football, Jerry focused on his academics and enrolled in Pharmacy at the U of T where he was still able to captain the Pharmacy football team and rebuffed interest from CFL and NFL scouts. After a brief career in pharmacy Jerry’s passion to pursue a medical degree took him to the University of Western Ontario’s Medical School where Jerry commuted on weekends to Toronto to work in the pharmacy to pay his tuition and support his parents. Jerry’s bosses in the pharmacies he worked, Al Goldblatt and Norm Benskey were mentors and life long friends and he always spoke fondly of his formative years working for them.

Jerry’s medical career was centered on and dedicated to St. Michael’s Hospital where he was an intern, resident, Emergency doctor, Internist and teacher. He truly exemplified the hospital’s founding mission statement as defined by the Sisters of St. Joseph, “A teaching hospital established to care for the sick and poor of Toronto’s inner city”. He was especially proud to be a teaching doctor affiliated with U of T and always loved the opportunity to mentor young doctors from across the world. St. Michael’s was truly his home away from home and was also where he met his wife and mother of his 3 sons, Patricia Tunney who was a nurse and graduate of St. Michael’s Nursing School. Jerry himself was mentored by some of the great doctors of the time, in particular his Chief, Dr. Joe Marotta was someone Jerry held in the highest esteem. His colleagues and friends from the hospital were priceless to him and in particular we’d like to thank Dr. Peter Kopplin and Dr. Ralph Warren for their undying friendship, especially in the more challenging past few years. Of course, what exemplified Jerry’s humility was that it didn’t matter who you were, be it a fellow doctor, a young nurse, an orderly or the parking attendant in the hospital parking lot, he always stopped to say hello and ask how they were doing, day or night.

This humility and acceptance of all was seen even clearer in his private practice which began driving around with his wife and young baby, leaving them in the car while making just one more house call with his black doctors’ bag and culminated in his practice at Commerce Court, where much to the dismay of Pearl then Fran he could just never say no. If you asked him how his day was, his single day of patients may include a Bank Chairman, a Corporate CEO, a fellow doctor, a Cardinal, missionary nuns and elderly immigrants from the old country that knew his parents. His patience, kindness and selfless dedication were compliments we his sons were privileged enough to hear time and time again from thankful patients.


Despite the time and energy Jerry dedicated to the hospital, his private practice, teaching and being an engaged father with 3 sons with never ending sports schedules, Jerry found the time to put his doctor’s skills to quite a diverse group of other activities. He was one of the first doctor’s involved with Casey House at a time when AIDS was controversial and poorly understood. He was selected as one of a team of doctor’s for the visit of Pope John Paul II. On a lighter note he was team doctor for his sons’ hockey trips to Finland, Sweden and the Soviet Union. He was a cruise ship doctor in the Mediterranean, which allowed him and Pat to visit Greece, Israel, Turkey and finally he was a ringside doctor for amateur boxing and professional wrestling.

Jerry could never actually retire, so after he left the hospital and private practice, he dedicated his final years as a doctor giving back to his roots at the Ukrainian Care Center where he loved the opportunity to not only continue to practice medicine, but to listen to and appreciate the long and challenging lives of the residents, who in many cases had faced the same difficulties his parents had.

In respect of Jerry's dedication to St. Michael’s Hospital, we’d ask that any charitable considerations be directed to the St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation so his legacy of inner city care and teaching can continue. http://www.stmichaelsfoundation.com/donor-centre/donor-centre.html

Finally the family wishes to offer sincerest thanks to the staff of Erin Meadows and the Palliative Care Team at Credit Valley Hospital who’s dedication and comforting care for our father in his final couple years and weeks was unending and unconditional.