BANNISTER, Richard Alexander - Richard Alexander Bannister, 75 passed away peacefully on Friday August 13th, 2021 with family by his side.
As husband to Sandra, brother to Hilary (Tim), father to Matthew (Valerie), Louise (Stewart) and Edward (Karen) and loving grandfather to Isabelle, Olivia, Logan and Chelsea, he will be deeply missed.
Richard attended boarding school where, despite being “deprived” of strawberries, he excelled as an athlete, becoming Essex champion in cross country. He then completed an engineering apprenticeship in the Merchant Navy. After many years at Spraybake UK, Richard and family moved to Canada where he started RS Finishing Systems, specializing in equipment to support the automotive refinishing business.
Richard often spent hours driving around Ontario, New York State and Michigan visiting clients. He loved cars and instilled this joy in his children, making sure they could all drive a manual transmission and do a proper hill start!
Richard/Dad/Pa will be remembered for his love for pottering. He could build or fix anything and loved nothing more than to have a “job” to do around the house. This worked out well for his children who only had to repay him for hanging shelves, replacing faucets or hooking up appliances with home baked goods. However, if they didn’t contain chocolate, that didn’t count! The only thing Richard liked more than chocolate was cheese, which made its way into most meals as he loved to cook (while using every pot in the kitchen). Richard had an unparalleled sense of humour, and was always ready to entertain with a rhyme, limerick or joke.
Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2013, Richard was lovingly cared for at Newmarket Health Centre until he passed.
Richard’s family would like to thank all the staff at the Alzheimer Society of York Region in Thornhill and Aurora who supported him in his early stages of his disease. We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to ALL the staff at Newmarket Health Centre. They took such amazing care of him for 4 years and for that we are tremendously thankful.
As expressions of sympathy, memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer Society of York Region at:
https://alzheimer.ca/york/en/take-action/donate/donate-now
Arrangements are entrusted with Thompson funeral home, Aurora.
We hope now that Richard/Dad/Pa’s strawberry bowl is endlessly full. He was very loved and will be deeply missed.
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