Passed away at Etobicoke General Hospital, on April 2, 2021, at the age of 73. He leaves behind his beloved wife of 46 ½ years, Jurate, and his two sisters-in-law, Irene Siciunas and Violet Vaiciekauskas.. Eugene had a long and storied career at U of T that started from the end of his student days. He held many administrative roles in his career and for many years before his retirement was the Director of the institution's central computing and networking department.
There were many notable achievements over his career. He oversaw the successful installation and operation of the first supercomputer at U of T. He directed the team that designed and delivered high speed networking capabilities to the St. George campus departments. Along with Warren Jackson he led the team that designed and deployed Canada's first coast-to-coast Internet network, CA*net. Eugene was integral to the creation of ONet, a province-wide higher education network, and GTAnet, a high speed network connecting colleges, universities and research hospitals in Toronto, and was a board member of both of these organizations. In recognition of his work as an Internet pioneer Eugene received several awards from leading networking organizations such as CANARIE and ORION.
Those who worked with Eugene recognized him as highly intelligent with a focus on what was important to get the job done (complemented by a keen sense of humour), fair in his judgments and supportive of his staff's efforts. A private service will be held. If desired, donations may be made to the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Online condolences may be made through www.turnerporter.ca