Obituary
Morris Wolfe chose a medically assisted death at home on November 27, surrounded and supported by loving family.
A child of working-class Jewish-Polish immigrant parents, his love of books and ideas drew him to a freelance writing career. In crabbed longhand, on yellow legal pages taped together on the wall, he turned out columns on topics from encyclopedias to Sesame Street to academic fraud (“scholars**t”) for Saturday Night, the Globe and Mail, and Books in Canada. In 1994 the Canadian Association of Journalists recognized him with an investigative journalism award for “Dr. Fabrikant’s Solution,” a look at a Concordia University tenure dispute that turned deadly.
Book-length projects included Jolts: The TV Wasteland and the Canadian Oasis, an early consideration of the effects of fast-paced television, and three editions of Aurora, an anthology of new Canadian writing. It was in Aurora that the story “Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa” first appeared, later expanded to novel length and filmed as Field of Dreams. In Menya: An End of Life Story he gave a moving account of his younger daughter’s death from breast cancer, and in Renia: A Holocaust Memoir he recounted the life story of a dear friend’s mother. OCA 1967-1972: Five Turbulent Years captured a dramatic transitional period at the (then) Ontario College of Art, where he taught part-time.
Wolfe’s openness about his struggle with depression helped many in his orbit. He was a mentor to 30 years of students at OCAD and a generous supporter of leftist causes and starving artists — though he also habitually stapled swear words into utility bills before mailing them. His sympathies lay with the misfit and the underdog. He would sleep through Star Wars movies but keep meticulous line score at Blue Jays games. He charmed children with promises to redeem a beard hair for a dollar on their next visit. He encouraged everyone to tell their stories, and was an early champion of many aspiring writers.
Always an introvert, he stepped back further into domestic life after strokes in 2013 limited his mobility and curtailed his ability to speak and write with the clarity he expected of himself. MAiD was a welcome option as memory faded and intellectual pursuits became elusive.
He is remembered with love by children Jennifer (Brad Richmond) and Ben, and by grandchildren Noah, Emma, Graeme, Felix and Lorraine; and by longtime partner Joy Cohnstaedt and her daughter Nicci (Greg Heptinstall) and granddaughter Jemima.
Donations are encouraged to local food banks and Doctors Without Borders. Collected writings can be found at morriswolfe.com, where information will also be posted about a celebration of life to be held in the spring.
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March 9 1938
November 27 2021
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Morris Wolfe March 9 1938
November 27 2021..
Décès pour la Ville:Toronto, Province: Ontario
avis deces Morris Wolfe March 9 1938
November 27 2021
avis mortuaire Morris Wolfe March 9 1938
November 27 2021