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Obituary of Paul Taras
It is with deep sorrow and much love that we mourn the passing of Paul Taras at his home in Ottawa on December 17, 2024, at the age of 83 years. He will be dearly missed by his wife of 61 years, Marja-Leena, their daughters Lisa (Zenon) and Michele (Dave), and his four cherished grandchildren Kristina, Mark, Michael, and Russell.
Paul was born in Tunisia, and loved life by the sea. He moved to Toronto, Canada following the independence of Tunisia with his mother Benita and sister Claudine when he was 16 years old. He quickly had to learn English, graduated high school and enrolled at the University of Toronto. He met Marja-Leena in 1962, and they were married one year later. They moved to Montreal in 1964, which they called their home for the next 54 years.
Dr. Paul Taras was devoted to his career specializing in nuclear spectroscopy. After obtaining his Ph.D in Nuclear Physics at the University of Toronto at age 23, Paul began working at the Université de Montréal, where he was a co-founding member of the top Canadian nuclear physics lab of its time. He conducted research for large projects such as OPAL, one of the major experiments at CERN’s Large Electron-Positron Collider in Switzerland, and the Superconducting Super Collider project in the United States. In 1994, he joined the BaBar experiment in California, and his team won widespread recognition, notably for their work establishing the value of a CKM matrix element, in the field of quantum states of quarks. Paul was honoured with the title of Professor Emeritus following his prolific 44-year long career at the university, however he continued his research for another decade after his retirement from teaching, notably working with colleagues at Stanford University in California and at the KEK High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Japan. Over the course of his career, Paul authored 714 papers, gave more than 180 presentations at conferences and 50 guest lectures, and supervised over 50 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
Paul had a full life outside of his work, enjoying numerous hobbies such as tennis, ballroom dancing, swimming, playing the kantele and touring with the Finnish-American choir, and later in life, Boxing for Health. He loved to travel, and was fortunate to travel the world with his family.
Family and friends are invited to gather on Saturday, December 28th, 2024 at Cole Funeral Services, 2500 Baseline Road. A Visitation will take place from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. A Funeral Service will follow at 2:00 pm. Guests are invited to share memories with light refreshments following the funeral service.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Ottawa Food Bank, to the Orangeville Food Bank, or to Parkinson Canada.
1941 2024
Death notice for the town of: Ottawa, Province: Ontario
death notice Paul
Taras 1941 2024
obituaries notice Paul
Taras 1941 2024
We offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Paul
Taras 1941 2024 and hope that their memory may be a source of comfort during this difficult time. Your thoughts and kind words are greatly appreciated.
