AYRE, Michael Broun - On Friday, November 6, 2020 Michael died peacefully on his own terms in his home in Toronto from colon cancer.
Born in Ottawa and raised in North Toronto, Michael was the first of four children of Alan and Joan (Wilson) Ayre.
He is predeceased by his parents; his sister, Barbara (Danny Tomlinson); his brother, John (Mary Ann Evans); and his first wife, Regina (nee Siniute).
Michael is survived by his wife, Ona (nee Jauneikaite); his sister, Margaret (Jack Fleetwood); and seven nephews and nieces.
He met and married Regina in 1964, whose family from Lithuania had settled in Montreal as refuges after World War II.
His life in New York City over the next 28 years entailed work as a corporate economist for firms including McGraw-Hill Companies and NL Industries, and was punctuated by trips to their winter getaway on St. Eustatius Island. Upon the breakup of the Soviet Union and withdrawal of Russian troops from the Baltic countries, Michael and Regina moved to Vilnius where Michael lent his expertise as an economic advisor, served as executive vice-president of the Lithuanian Investment Bank, and worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development where he founded the Business Advisory Services.
After Regina’s death in 2002, Michael divided his time between Vilnius and Toronto and continued a project that he had earlier begun which entailed researching 19th century photographs of Caribbean towns, people and businesses through visits to archives in Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean. This book, The Caribbean in Sepia: A History in Photographs 1840-1900 was published in 2012.
A few years before then, Ona captured his heart and they were married in 2010.
His energetic, optimistic, can-do approach to life was firmly rooted in a sound understanding of reality. This guided him throughout a full and rewarding life until the moment of his death.
His ashes will be buried in Lithuania when travel allows.
Special thanks are extended to the Odette Cancer Centre of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Drs. Darlene Fenech, Kristy Wasson, and Ines Menjak; the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care, and Spectrum Health Care doctor Naushin Walji and nurse Priscilla Sudeesh.
Donations in Michael’s name may be made to the Odette Cancer Centre (donate.sunnybrook.ca/tribute).
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