Elmer Melvin Tory
1928-2020
Elmer Melvin
Tory died unexpectedly at the age of 91. He was born in
Vermilion Alberta on December 10, 1928 and spent the first years of
his life on a farm north of Wainwright. The family moved to Wainwright
where he obtained his elementary and high-school education. A
high-school yearbook described him as the small boy with the huge
brain.
He attended the University of Alberta,
graduating with first-class honors in Chemistry. He won three honor
prizes and the Scholarship of the Council of Jewish Women for the
highest average in first-year Arts and Science. An I.O.D.E. Coronation
Bursary paid almost all of his tuition for three years. Additional
funds came from summer jobs and part-time work as a laboratory
demonstrator.
He worked as a chemist at Aluminium
Laboratories in Arvida (now part of Saguenay), Quebec, where he met
Audrey Upton. They married in 1956. In 1958, he entered the graduate
program at Purdue University, graduating in 1961 with a Ph. D. in
Chemical Engineering with minors in Chemistry and Mathematics. He
worked as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at McMaster
University (1960-63) and Associate Chemical Engineer at Brookhaven
National Laboratory (1963-65).
For the rest of his life, he was
associated with the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at
Mount Allison University (Associate Professor 1965-73, Professor
1973-90, O. E. Smith Professor 1990-95, Professor Emeritus 1995-2020).
Though he appreciated his contacts with students, his great passion
was research. From his initial effort (published in the ATA Magazine
when he was 17) to a jointly authored paper in his
87th year, he applied mathematics to explain
natural phenomena. These included the propagation of concentration
gradients in sedimenting suspensions, the nature of settling in
compression, a Markov model for sedimentation, and random packing of
circles, squares, and spheres. Especially notable are Tory plots, the
Pickard-Tory process, and the Jodrey-Tory algorithm. The latter,
published in 1985, is still a standard method for simulating dense
random packing of spheres. He gave the Blundon Lecture at Atlantic
Math Days in 1993.
Despite the demands of teaching,
research, and studies, he participated in many other activities. He
was editor of the high-school yearbook and class valedictorian. He
enjoyed duplicate bridge and despite several long absences from the
game, he achieved the rank of Bronze Life Master. He liked to play
pool and had a full-size snooker table in his basement.
He was a lifelong supporter of the
CCF-NDP and helped out in various capacities in many elections. He
also championed many causes with letters to the editor. He contributed
generously to local, national, and international charities. While
teaching at McMaster University, he was on the executive of the
Unitarian Church in Hamilton. At Mount Allison he served on many
committees, including the Library Planning Committee, the Tenure and
Promotion Committee, and the Joint Liaison Committee. He chaired the
committee that produced the ‘Tory Report’. He was
President of the Federation of New Brunswick Faculty Associations
(FNBFA), twice President of the Mount Allison Faculty Association, and
twice Chief Negotiator for MAFA. In recognition of these services and
his academic stature, he was awarded the Prix Nicole Raymond Award in
1995.
He was predeceased by his wife Audrey,
sisters Marjorie Tory and Lucile Peacock, brothers Alan and Cecil, and
daughter Heather Austin. He is survived by his son Kevin (Christine),
grandsons Pavel and Michael, and several nieces and
nephews
An informal time of remembrance will be
held at a later date. Donations in memory of Dr. Tory may be made to
Live Bait Theatre or Doctors Without Borders at bit.ly/3dndHDy
Arrangements are under the
care and supervision of Jones Funeral
Home, 70 Bridge Street, Sackville, NB (506-364-1300).
Condolences may be submitted to the family by visiting their
website
at www.jonesfuneralhome.ca
Note from Elmer’s
son: Dad wrote this himself some years ago, and only the dates have
been updated.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Elmer Melvin Tory 19282020..
Death notice for the town of: Sackville, Province: Nouveau-Brunswick