LEONARD, Robert Joseph - We lost an original when my beloved left this world on July 26, 2019 surrounded by family and his two extra brothers.
Robert was intelligent, loyal, creative and always ready for a debate. He loved technology, the English lexicon, a game of squash, discussion around the table and his Basenjis, Chance, Gypsy and Ingrid.
My thanks go out to the core team who facilitated many medical appointments and provided counsel and support: brothers Norman and Ted; sisters Libby, Jeannie and Dana; nephews Ian and Connor; nieces Ali and Bailey; friends Drew, Joe and L. Baltz; extended family Lindsay, Bonnie, Pam, Guy, Tara and Chris and his best mother-in-law, Betty.
A sincere thanks to Doctors Kim, Chen and Saltman at Princess Margaret Hospital for indulging his obsession with the binder and laughing at his jokes and to all the nurses both in hospital and at home who looked after both of us with patience and tenderness.
Robert was the son of Warren and Jean and one of eleven children. He is joining his brothers Larry and Jeff who left before him and his wonderful father-in-law Bruno. He followed a decidedly different scholastic path to arrive at his chosen profession and was on the cutting edge of this new thing called the internet before many knew it existed. He ended his career as a technical product consultant for a large software company, logging countless hours in the air.
He loved a gathering of friends and family and for all the travel, was a serious home-body. Friday night “Shabbat” dinners with the Pen girls (and additional guests) were sacred and mobile devices were forbidden.
I met what turned out to be the “boy next door” (his family moved away from the street directly behind my family home the year we moved in) on the corner of Yonge & St. Clair in 1987. That led to our movie star kiss on the dance floor of the El Mocambo and the rest was history. We would have celebrated our 30th anniversary this September.
There will be no funeral, per Robert’s wishes.
If you would like to honour his memory, please sign your organ donor card. Another way to remember him would be to drop off a basket of healthy snacks at a nursing station of your local hospital. So many nurses provided such compassionate care to us and they should be celebrated.
I have lost my best friend, my love and my champion but I am grateful for the years we had, the belly laughs we shared and the bond that will never be broken.
{fastsocialshare