BARANOWSKY, Michael John Baranowsky

It is with heavy hearts that the family announces the passing of Michael John Baranowsky, who passed away in his 82nd year on September 22, 2025. Mike was born in Sudbury, Ontario on May 2, 1944 to Lily (nee Yurichuk) and Mijac (Michael) Baranowsky. He lived in Sudbury until he was 5, when the family relocated to the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto, on Givins Street. He attended Givins Street Public School, where he ran track, winning several city races and field events and then went to Parkdale Collegiate. While not the most studious, he did attend the University of Western Ontario for a year before he was asked to not come back – highlights include a grade of 7 in Physics – and then attending for a semester at Waterloo before heading out to the real world. While at Western, he met the love of his life, Catherine (Kate) Waters and began dating, much to the chagrin of her father Gilbert, who wasn’t so keen on this young lad from the wrong side of the tracks. Mike and Kate got married and he began his career at IBM. They moved to St. Catherines where they lived for several years, welcoming their first child Johanna (Saunders) before moving to Caradoc Township and a move to Canada Trust. They settled into their house on the 5th Concession, now Century Drive, where they lived for more than 25 years. 3 more children followed (Orin, David and Julia), along with countless dogs, cats, a turtle and fish. Mike loved being outside and enjoyed nothing more than being out in his grubby shorts with no shirt on, manning the grill with tongs in one hand and a beer in the other. He would tinker around the house on various fix-it projects, renovating kitchens, bathrooms and whatever else Kate wanted him to do. He loved to hit fly balls to his son, routinely hitting balls into the pine trees, but that experience gave his son an incredible ability to track the ball in the air and also to be able to know when to sense if he was getting close to the fence in a game, or a tree in the backyard. Mike also loved nothing more in the winter than to fire up the tractor on a weekend to go out to the woods with his dog Snuffy, and frequently one of his hungover teenage sons who had the audacity to go out to a party the night before, to cut down trees and stack wood for the wood burning fire place in the family room. While he would be there at the drop of a hat for a friend, rallying long time friends to drive to Cincinnati in the middle of a snowstorm to visit his close friend Ron after his unfortunate accident, he was a very private and proud man, shunning the assistance from others. He did not want many to know of his prostate cancer diagnosis in 2002 or any of the other ailments he suffered over the years. Mike grew up in a tough environment where love and affection wasn’t often given out. As a young father, he was not very emotionally expressive, taking on the traditional male role model of the time. You knew that if he woke up early after working the night shift to get to the furthest corner of the house and to not sit in his lazy boy chair, EVER. As he got older, his stance softened and became much more affectionate with his grandchildren. His grandchildren were his pride and joy and nothing made him happier than their accomplishments, whether it be graduating from university, or making a competitive hockey team. He enjoyed travel, taking the family on road trips to Florida, New York, Virginia, South Carolina and many other places up and down the east coast of the US. The family would load up in the van after he finished the night shift and would drive straight to our destination, barely stopping for bathroom breaks, where he would then set up the trailer before sitting down to enjoy a well-deserved cold beer. After retiring, Mike and Kate wintered in Ft. Myers and would enjoy going on cruises and tours around the Caribbean and in Europe. Mike was predeceased by his parents and is survived by his wife, their children Johanna (Geoff Saunders), Orin (Andrea Cheung, David (Nicole Baranowsky) and Julia and his 6 grandchildren Quinton, Olivia, Jackson, Aaron, Oliver and Gilbert. A celebration of life will be held at a later date.