HANSEN, Dr. Niels Henry - Unexpectedly on April 10, 2018, Niels Henry Hansen, nearing his 83rd birthday, while working out.
He would want everyone to know that his regular gym visits greatly extended his life and that this coincidence should not be regarded as necessarily causal.
Beloved family physician; respected professor of Family Medicine at Dalhousie University and Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University; champion and trailblazer in many challenging features and varieties of health care; Order of Canada nominee; audiophile; and photographer.
Constant learning meant he was continually reinventing his lifework in medicine. His care never flagged, as if he were directly responsible for the well-being of each person he encountered: a responsibility he wore with humility, competence and focus.
After graduation from Dalhousie and time in the military, Niels co-founded the Dartmouth Medical Centre.
He loved people above all and afforded both dignity and respect to each and every person he encountered. Those whose lives he touched, those he helped, are simply without number. He involved himself in all communities in which he lived and moved. Much was done in the background. Very quietly.
Very lovingly. Niels was a prolific philanthropist and passionate about the value of Family Medicine. In lieu of flowers, donations are welcome to Dalhousie Family Medicine or the charity of the donor's choice.
Niels is survived by the love of his life, Jean, by son Paul (Jane) and daughters Karen Martin (Fred) and Lynn Hornacek (Peter) and by his five grandchildren (Victoria Scott (Glen), Devon Hansen (Jonathan Hebert), Heather Hansen, Benjamin Martin and Olivia Hornacek) and one great-grandchild (William Scott).
His quiet contentment, deep pride and beaming joy in being surrounded by happy, loving family will be forever treasured and constantly renewed by us all.
A visitation will be held on Sunday, April 15th from 1-4 p.m. in the event room of the apartment complex at 38 William Carson Ct., Toronto (near Yonge at the 401).
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