Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Ian Dyck, a scholar of Victorian England who received his BA and MA in our department, and taught for a year at STM in the mid-80s before taking a permanent position at SFU, died on July 15th in Vancouver. A memorial service was held in Borden on July 28th, at his great grandfather's homestead where his brother and family now live. The following obituary appeared in the Star Phoenix.

Ian Dyck, 1954 2007 It is with profound sorrow that we announce the untimely passing of Ian Dyck, a remarkable father, son, brother, teacher, scholar and friend. Ian passed away in Vancouver on July 15, eight months after a bone marrow transplant and seven years from diagnosis of a chronic form of lymphocytic leukemia. A proud son of Saskatchewan farmers, Ian completed BA and MA degrees at the University of Saskatchewan before taking up doctoral work at the University of Sussex. D. Phil. in hand, Ian taught for two years in Saskatchewan and Lethbridge before coming in 1988 to Simon Fraser University, where he became an associate professor of History. His William Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, published by Cambridge University press in 1992, established a reputation that he enhanced with two edited collections, a dozen articles and scores of reviews. His most recent work was a fine edition of Cobbett's Rural Rides for Penguin (2001), and he was gathering material for a seminal study of Rural Song in England. He will perhaps be best remembered as a superb teacher, a talent that won him the university's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1991. Hundreds of undergraduates delighted in his Western Civilization lectures and seminar on Popular Culture in Britain, and few professors made such an impression on graduate students. Ian is survived by his daughters, Jennifer of Ottawa and Kathleen of Vancouver, and their mother Karen. His father Clifford Dyck of Saskatoon; siblings, Murray (Linda) Dyck, Sherrie (David) Culver of Moose Jaw; nephews Matthew (Chris), Andrew (Gwen), their children (Wyat and Owen), Devon (fiance Virginia) of Moose Jaw. Meaghan (Jonathan) Hutzul of Edmonton. Several aunts and uncles and numerous cousins. Ian was predeceased by his mother Agnes Dyck (December 11, 2006). Family wishes to extend special thanks to Dr. John Stobbs, a colleague of Ian's for his unswerving attention and care in all situations. Also to his life long friend Jim Sutherland and other colleagues that visited him in hospital. Memorial donations in Ian's memory may be made to Vancouver General Hospital, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, 899 W 12 Ave., Vancouver, BC V52 1M9.
Published in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix on 7/21/2007.

Click here to link to the Guest Book at Remembering.ca, where you can read and post rememberances of Ian.