OBER, Dr Warren Upton Ober

Dr. Warren Upton Ober, 100 years old, of Waterloo, Ontario, passed away on Wednesday, November 5, 2025 in Waterloo Regional Health Network at Queen’s Boulevard, formerly St. Mary’s Hospital.

Warren was born in Smackover (originally Chemin Couvert), Arkansas, United States to Andrew and Delilah Ober on May 2, 1925. He attended Prescott High School (AR), where he graduated in 1943, subsequently enlisting in the US Navy at age 18, later training to pilot a landing craft at Normandy in World War 2. Fate intervened when he was selected to join the staff of Admiral Howard F. Kingman as a communications officer, defending the Pacific coast during the war. After Warren’s service in the Navy, he attended Washington and Lee University where he discovered a love of English literature and graduated with a BA in English literature in 1948. Subsequently, he became an instructor at the Kentucky Military Institute in Louisville, KY and in Louisville he met Mary Kemper in a summer class; they later married in 1951. He went on to earn a PhD in English literature from Indiana University in 1958, specializing in the work of Robert Southey, the poet laureate of the United Kingdom. His first academic post was at Southern Arkansas State University (1953-1955) followed by a move to Northern Illinois University where he became a professor.

Finally in 1965, he accepted a position as English department chair at the University of Waterloo, relocating the family to Kitchener-Waterloo, which the Obers would call home for sixty years. He held several academic and administrative posts at the university, becoming Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1995. Most of his professional friends and collaborators were at the University of Waterloo, where he worked for 30 years. After retirement, he continued publishing, enjoyed attending the KW Symphony and Skate Canada performances and serving on the Kitchener Public Library board as its chair.

He received a number of awards and honours during his lifetime, including the University of Waterloo Distinguished Teacher Award (1992), the funds from which he started The Warren Ober Awards for Outstanding Teaching by Graduate Students in the Faculty of Arts, still given today; the Award of Merit from the City of Kitchener for service as member and chair of Kitchener Public Library Board (1984); and the Volunteer Service Award from the Province of Ontario for service as member and chair of Kitchener Public Library Board (1985). He supported a number of organizations and charities but was probably proudest of creation of the Warren and Mary Ober Study Rooms in the University of Waterloo library and the Mary and Warren Ober Urgent Care Room at the University of Waterloo medical clinic.

Warren was well liked and admired by his colleagues, beloved by his family, and a key part of the community at his retirement home, the Village at University Gates. He always had a kind word and a smile for people, never complained, and enjoyed thoughtful discussions with anyone. He was a favourite lecturer at the University of Waterloo and was famous for his very popular course on Arthurian Legend. The staff at a U of W lunchroom knew about his sweet tooth and always kept a piece of pecan pie just for him. He never swore, resorting to “hell’s bells” or “dad gummit” only in the direst circumstances. Well known for his charming nature, his sons will remember him for the time that Warren talked his way into a Dire Straits concert in Boston in the 1980s, just to hear “Money for Nothing” (I want my MTV). He loved his wife, Mary, dearly and let the medical staff know as much while in the hospital in his final days.

We would especially like to thank the staff at the Village at University Gates retirement home for their thoughtful care of Warren these last few years and a special thank you to the medical staff in the emergency room and on the fourth floor at WRHN@Queen’s Boulevard (formerly St. Mary’s Hospital), for their support and care.

Warren is survived by his wife of 74 years Mary (Kemper) of Waterloo, Ontario, by his children Christopher (Patricia), Henry (Morag) and Robert (Paula), his grandchildren in Canada, Matthew (Grace), Heather (Kyle), Melissa (Matthew), his grandchildren in the US, Thomas (Regina), Teresa (Jordan), Gwendolyn, Derek, Colton and Riley, his great grandchildren William, James, Scott, Holly, Alexander, Hailey, Natalie and Vincent, his niece Melanie Gazda and his nephew Michael Manley. He is predeceased by his parents Andrew and Delilah Ober, and his siblings Mesilla and Kenneth.

Visitation will be held at the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home, 171 King Street South, Waterloo, Ontario, on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Funeral Service will take place in the Funeral Home Chapel at 11:00 a.m., with Reverend Gary Boratto officiating. A reception will follow in the funeral home’s Fireside Reception Room. Interment will follow at Memory Gardens Cemetery, 2723 Victoria St. North, Breslau, Ontario.

In lieu of flowers, condolences for the family and donations to House of Friendship (https://houseoffriendship.org), Waterloo Regional Hospital Network Foundation (https://wrhnf.ca), or a charity of your choice may be arranged through the funeral home at www.erbgood.com or 519-745-8445.