WILLIAM GEORGE STOBIE

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WILLIAM GEORGE STOBIE William (Bill) Stobie passed away peacefully at the St. Boniface General Hospital on July 18, 2007. William Stobie was born on June 1, 1911 in London, England. He came to Canada as a two year old, spending his childhood in Montreal. He subsequently moved to Toronto with his family. He finished high school in Toronto, graduated from the University of Toronto and did graduate work there, and at the University of Illinois. He subsequently taught English at De Pauw University, the University of Missouri, Cornell University and the University of Manitoba. He came to the University of Manitoba in 1946 and taught there until he retired in 1976. At the University of Manitoba he was co-founder and first president of the first association of the academic staff, a chapter of the American Association of University Professors, and was very active in the early years of its successor, the Association of the Academic Staff of the University of Manitoba, in which he served as president during the year of the Crowe Case. From 1959 to 1964 he was a member of the small committee, which produced the plans for University College and oversaw their implementation until the opening of the building. In the late sixties and early seventies as Director of the Summer and Evening Sessions he participated in the extraordinary development of those programs on and off campus and by correspondence. During the latter half of that period as chairman of Inter-Universities North he helped to bring that cooperative undertaking into being and to establish the program as a going concern. In the community at large, in the fifties he was an active member of the Winnipeg Little Theatre, especially as a member of its Board, serving for some years as its president. He was proud to claim the credit for John Hirsch's first appointment as an employee of that organization. For many years he belonged to the Granite Curling Club and was a long-time member of Southwood Golf and Country Club. He was predeceased by his parents and his wife Margaret and is survived by his sisters, Dorothy Langeller of Notre Dame du Portage, Quebec and Marguerite Palmer of Pickering, Ontario. He will be missed by his good friends, Gladys and George Oelkers. They would like to express their appreciation to the medical staff of St. Boniface General Hospital for their compassionate care of William during his stay in the hospital, especially 4B. In keeping with William Stobie's wishes, cremation has taken place and there will be no service for him. NEIL BARDAL INC. 949-2200 www.nbardal.mb.ca

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 21, 2007