AVIGDOR, Lee Avigdor

He was born with an easy-going nature and an adventurous palate. From an early age, he remembered – and rated – every major event in his life by the quality of the menu. He was always up for trying something new; the more exotic, the better! So when he told his parents he wanted to leave Toronto and go to the Stratford Chef’s School to become a chef, they weren’t surprised. With high hopes, they sent him off – and from the start, Lee knew he’d found his calling.

But a career wasn’t all he found in Stratford. Not long after he arrived he met the love of his life. Alison McArthur. A few years later, by now a chef at the renowned Down the Street restaurant, he and Alison got married, to the joy and delight of both sets of parents. Later, they took an extended trip through Thailand, meandering from place to place, sampling the rich local cuisines, and setting a pattern for their travels to come.

Before too long, they added to their family, first with their son Myles and then their daughter Adelaide. In his own words, Lee was now “the happiest man alive.”

Over the next thirty years, Lee became a respected and much-loved chef and mentor in a city known for its culinary excellence. But it was his roles as a husband – and father – that he was proudest of. He adored his family and quietly and steadfastly encouraged and supported each of them in their many endeavours. He was, quite simply, their rock.

When Myles won a spot at the Second City improv school, Lee drove him to Toronto every week, rain or shine, usually through rush-hour traffic. While Myles was in class, Lee perused the shops in Kensington Market for new food finds to add to his culinary repertoire. When Adelaide spread her wings and went off to au pair in North Carolina, he drove straight through to visit her, just stopping when he needed gas. On his way back he took a more circuitous route so he could visit a few noted restaurants and food shops he’d researched. In spite of his long – and often odd – chef’s hours, he rarely missed any of their recitals or plays or gigs.

Lee is predeceased by his father Heinz, brother Glen and mother Frances McGuire. He will be sorely missed by Alison, Myles and Adelaide, his stepmum Nancy McDonald, his mother-in-law and father-in-law Leslie and Doug McArthur and myriad friends, many of them going back to his early school days in Toronto.

For all who knew Lee, the loss is profound, but don’t cry for him. He would hate that. Instead, remember him for his quick wit, gentle humour, generous nature, gift for friendship – and his warmth.

And when you hear a Grateful Dead song, see anything Edward Gorey, spot a wicked hot sauce on the shelf, watch a Blue Jays game, savour a glass of single-malt scotch, or spy a man walking down the street with a cat trotting along behind him, think of Lee – and smile.