Seán died peacefully at home on February 22, after a brief illness and a long, rich life.
He was the self-described “adoring and adorable husband” of Carolyn Wood, whose life he lit up every day for 30 years. He was the proud and much-loved dad of Scott Hollywood (Tammy), Charles Slowey (Lori Lynn), and Annique Slowey (Jim Kostantakos), and the twinkle-eyed grandpa of Ciara and Quinn Slowey, Lesley (d. 2005) and Roberta Hollywood, and Alexandra Kostantakos. Patriarch and loving uncle to his Irish nieces and nephews around the world, and cherished member of the Wood-Quigley family. Condolences to any of these may be left online at www.turnerporter.ca.
Born in Clones, Co. Monaghan, Seán came to Toronto in 1957 and, like all Irish emigrants before and after him, left a part of his heart in Ireland. Other parts of his heart belonged to poetry, art, language, and music, especially opera, but also mariachi, and ABBA. (No one knows why.) He loved building things, and as the founder of Oriel Renovations, he upgraded hundreds of homes across Toronto. But apart from family, his greatest joy in life was golf, and he was very good at it: twice Seniors Champion at the National, he compiled a fully-documented lifetime tally of eight holes-in-one. The friendships Seán made in golf were among the richest in his life, but there were others he cherished, from early childhood, the building trades, the publishing world, and Arrabon House, a cause of which he was very fond. To honour his memory please consider a donation (arrabonhouse.com), wear some green on St Patrick’s Day, and raise a glass to a man of great courage and wit and mind and heart.