MITCHELL, William Gordon - William Gordon Mitchell, Anthony S. Fell Chair at the University of Toronto, a leader in the field of strategic management, and above all a treasured partner, father, older brother, friend, and son, died suddenly December 6, 2021, after coming home from a run.
He was 68. Born in Trail on April 13, 1953, to Dorothy May and Kenneth William Mitchell, Will grew up in Fruitvale, BC. After high school, Will poured slag at the Cominco smelter; moved to Vancouver and studied briefly at Simon Fraser University; provided first aid for the BC forest service and for a diamond-bit drilling operation; and helped start a recycling depot.
His work as a bread baker at a Vancouver food co-op set the rest of his life in motion.
There Will met Dilys, his partner for the next 41 years.
Recognizing a need for business skills led him back to Simon Fraser; having found his calling in academia, he moved to UC Berkeley for a PhD.
To Will's family - near and far - Will was loving, proud of and interested in who they were, an unfailing pillar of support. He is a source of many of his children's most-prized values, from intellectual curiosity, drive, and passion for travel to the love of a good coffee shop and used book store.
Will ran marathons, crunched numbers for fun, rode a motorcycle and played folk-rock on his guitars, travelled to the ends of the earth, called his mother daily for more than a decade at the end of her life, and always returned home to read a book with a cat on his lap.
Will leaves behind his partner, Dilys Bowman; their children, Mairi, Tamzin, and Luc; his siblings, Trish, Candy, Don, Beth, and Heather; and their families. He was deeply loved, and is deeply missed.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the memorial scholarship in his name at the University of Toronto.
{fastsocialshare