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Professor Emeritus Mark Holmes passed away on Thursday, February 20. Mark was a member of the former Department of Educational Administration and contributed significantly to the ��ݮ����Ƶ���� community in the 70s and 80s, retiring in the 90s. Colleague and Professor Emeritus Richard Townsend shared the following reflection:

Beginning in Britain, Mark followed his father's chosen path of school administration. Immigrating to Canada and after a stint teaching geography in a middle school. Mark served as a Nova Scotia principal, then earning a doctorate at University of Chicago. Before long, he became Director-General of the Protestant School Board in Laval, Quebec outside Montreal. A chance to be Head of Field Service at ��ݮ����Ƶ���� brought him to 252 Bloor with a cross-appointment to the Department of Ed Admin (his special field).

Before long, in the Bernard Shapiro years, Mark became a vigorous Associate Director for ��ݮ����Ƶ���� Administration. Next he was a full-time prof in Ed. Admin, taking principled and well-known stands against what he called "the liberal establishment" of Ontario education. 

In retirement, he was a regular referee for a Texas-based education journal, the author of a philosophical memoir, A Skeptic's Christianity, and an op-ed columnist for a weekly in Coburg. For much of his last year, Mark resided in an assisted-living facility where he was (in his wife Nora's words), "very well treated by staff." Rightly Mark and Nora were proud of their four kids' decency, enterprise, and independence.”

Please . With our sincerest sympathies to Mark’s family and friends.