Obituary

John Weaver passed away peacefully at the age of 92 on Saturday, April 26^th, 2025, at the Royal Jubilee Hospital surrounded by his loving family.

He is survived by Ludmilla, his wife of 65 years; his children Andrew (Jordan), Anthony (Laurence) and Alexandra (Dan); grandchildren Maria, David, Hélène, Paul, Nicolas, Nicholas, Charlotte and Georgia. He is also deeply mourned by his sister Margaret, and his extended family and friends in Canada and abroad.

John was born on 5^th November 1932, in Birmingham, UK where he spent his childhood and attended Solihull Grammar School. In 1950 he enrolled at Bristol University and earned an Honours degree in Mathematics.  He also joined the University Training Corps, and in 1953 was selected as one of two representatives from Bristol University to march in the coronation procession of Queen Elizabeth II. That same year, John boarded the Empress of France in Liverpool and set sail for Montreal on his way to the University of Saskatchewan where he completed both his MSc and PhD in Physics. It was there that he met his future wife Ludmilla at the International Students’ Club. They married in 1960.

After honeymooning in the UK and continental Europe they moved to Victoria where John worked as a research scientist at the Pacific Naval Laboratory in Esquimalt. In 1966 he accepted a faculty position at the University of Victoria and later served as Chair of the Physics and Astronomy Department. John then became the first Dean of UVic’s newly formed Faculty of Science and held this position until his retirement in 1998.

John will be remembered as a true gentleman, devoted husband, father, grandfather, and patriarch. He was kind and highly respected by a large circle of extended family, friends, and colleagues around the world. His strength of character, empathy, kindness, erudition, humour, and unwavering devotion to his family will be sorely missed.

Special thanks to the staff at Royal Jubilee Hospital, especially nurses Rowena, Nathan, Jeremy, Gabriella and Kat for their compassionate and professional attention to his needs. Special thanks also to the staff at Amica Somerset House, especially Jodie and Joy.

A funeral will be held at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, BC, on Monday, 5^th May, at 1 pm (PST).

Funeral service

Eulogy

When John, Dad, Grandpa or Gramps as David and I know him, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in February, he decided to prepare his own eulogy. As he told his daughter Alexandra, “I want to make sure the dates of the events in my life are mentioned correctly”. This was a perfect example of John’s meticulous attention to detail – a trait we deeply admired, even if it could be a bit frustrating when he corrected our grammar mid-sentence.

He also said that he wanted a eulogy that traced his journey in life, believing that would be more interesting than an “exaggerated account of how wonderful he was”. Sadly, John passed away before he was able to finish it. On the positive side, it leaves us room to finish his story in our words….

John Weaver was born on 5 November, 1932 in Birmingham, UK and grew up in nearby Solihull. The area was a major target for the Luftwaffe in World War 2 and John spent many nights in an air raid shelter in the back garden.  In a field opposite the house was a searchlight and an anti-aircraft gun, down the road a barrage balloon and right outside the house a smokescreen incinerator which emitted oily, black smoke to obscure enemy targets on the ground. It is not surprising therefore that several houses on Solihull Road were bombed, but not his fortunately.

John won a place at Solihull School, an independent ‘public’ school which took scholarship boys.  After the war, John’s father (who had been employed on war work at the nearby Rover company) obtained a new position as a sales representative for a Birmingham company making hotel bar equipment and was transferred to Bristol. Since John was approaching the all-important School Certificate examination, he stayed on in Solihull, living with his grandparents, while the rest of the family, mother, father and his younger sister Margaret moved to Bristol.  This was a decision he later came to regret. On the positive side, one of his school friends invited him to join his family on a holiday in Switzerland. This was a transformative life experience for John who up to this point had been the consummate parochial Englishman, having rarely travelled beyond his local comfort zone, only once to London and never abroad.  He was immediately fascinated by the variety of cultures, languages, ways of life, tastier food and superior infrastructure on the continent.  He became an instant Europhile, and the experience inspired a love of travel and adventure which lasted throughout his life. Later in life this led him to travel extensively all across the world with Ludmilla and family.

In 1950 he reunited with the family when he enrolled at Bristol University to study for an Honours degree in Mathematics. In the summer vacations he returned to the continent, hitch-hiking around France and Switzerland with friends and working in an aluminium factory in Norway.  He also joined the University Training Corps, and in 1953 was selected as one of two representatives from Bristol University to march in the coronation procession of Queen Elizabeth 2^nd.

By chance, a distant relative who had married a Professor of History at the University of Saskatchewan, visited the family while on a tour of the UK. She suggested John experience life at a Canadian university by taking a Master’s degree at the University of Saskatchewan.  John took this suggestion with a pinch of salt but was very surprised when several weeks later a letter arrived from the Head of the Physics Department inviting him to apply for graduate work with the promise of financial support.  The relative had followed through after all but with a slight error — she got the wrong department, Physics rather than Mathematics! But with his recently acquired sense of adventure John thought “Why not?”.  In September 1953, much to his sister’s dismay that he was once again leaving the family, John handed in his Ration Book as he boarded the ‘Empress of France’ in Liverpool and set sail for Montreal.

To say that his arrival in Saskatoon, a small town isolated in the middle of the prairies with their fierce winters and hot dry summers was a cultural shock, is an understatement. His home in England was a three-day train journey and a week-long sea voyage away; telephone calls to family were very expensive and had to be booked well in advance for a timed three-minute conversation. Nevertheless, John found the Saskatchewan people warm and friendly; he was tremendously impressed with the quality of the faculty and students in the Physics Department, and he soon made a wide circle of friends, many, like him, from Europe.  As his MSc graduation approached, John was selected for an exchange scholarship to study at Göttingen University in Germany, which was another life-changing experience.

The exchange committed John to return to the University of Saskatchewan to continue his graduate studies.  The next three years as he worked towards his PhD were a bit of a grind, but he enjoyed teaching some mathematics courses.  His social life revolved around the International Students Club, the Saskatoon German Club and playing soccer.  In the two clubs he met a ‘French’ girl — at least he thought she was French because she was speaking French and kept talking about growing up in France — but he soon discovered she was Ukrainian sent by her parents in Montreal to study at a Ukrainian Institute in Saskatoon.

John and Ludmilla were married in Montreal, 8th of May, 1960, nearly 65 years today.  After a honeymoon in the UK and continental Europe they set off for Victoria where John had a position at the Pacific Naval Laboratory in Esquimalt.

And so John and Ludmilla left Saskatoon for good in May 1961 and started a new life in Victoria.  They bought their first house in Esquimalt; Andrew was born in November 1961; Anthony in February 1965. Many years later their daughter Alexandra was born in 1976.

After five enjoyable and scientifically productive years at PNL, John realised that if he was ever to achieve his goal of eventually returning to his homeland, now was the time to act. One advertised post that seemed particularly attractive was for a mathematics lecturer at a polytechnic in England.  The application forms were sent to him, however, by surface rather than air mail, arriving well after the closing date. He returned them anyway and received a very apologetic reply from the head of the department saying he would be notified if other positions became available. Meanwhile, with the University of Victoria expanding rapidly, John received an offer of a permanent position in the Physics Department.  He delayed his response as long as possible but eventually, having heard nothing more from the polytechnic, he accepted the faculty position at UVic in 1966. Less than two weeks later, a letter from England did arrive inviting him to apply for one of four positions now available!  John often mused how different his journey through life would have been had a wrong stamp not been put on the envelope when mailing the initial application form.

From the time John joined the University of Victoria to his passing, he devoted his research and passion to studying geophysics, in particular geomagnetism. John initially was appointed to the Department of Physics and Astronomy and later cross-appointed with the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences. His breadth of scientific interest, collegiality, and vision for expansion in the Science Faculty all led to his appointment first as Chair of Physics and Astronomy (1980-1988) and then as Dean of Science (1993-1998). As Dean, he not only helped foster growth and development of the new School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, the Centre for Earth and Ocean Research, the VENUS and NEPTUNE cabled ocean observatories, but also more broadly the Centre for Global Studies and instituted a Teaching Awards program. These developments succeeded in part because of his energy, devotion, fairness and openness as an academic administrator.

He remained active well into retirement as a Professor Emeritus and in supporting individuals for scholarships and prizes and mentoring further academic programs within the Faculty of Science. He was entirely unselfish, and became a dependable supporter for new initiatives in research and teaching such as the Canada Research Chairs Program. He was a consummate coach for the Faculty of Sciences and UVic, watching out to help new faculty members and in advancing new initiatives that have helped build UVic’s strong international reputation – elbows up, but always in a gentlemanly posture. Our family has been touched by how fondly John is remembered by his many friends and colleagues from his days at UVic.

John also had a keen interest in local affairs and was a frequent contributor to the Letters section of the Times Colonist. He was an active member of the Rockland Neighbourhood Association and a keen supporter of the Capital Region Municipal Amalgamation Society.

In editing this section of John’s eulogy, we were struck by John’s insistance on pointing out that the “University of Victoria” was an obvious misnomer because one end of the building he worked in was in Oak Bay and the other in Saanich. What a demonstration of John’s keen eye to detail!

In addition to his valuable professional and community contributions, anyone familiar with John would know that many of his greatest contributions were to the lives of his family and friends. John requested his eulogy to be purely factual and chronological, leaving pleasantries aside; however, we believe that pleasantries are not just appropriate, but factual when describing the impact he had on his loved ones. In a break from chronology, we would like to share some warm memories chosen by members of John’s family that highlight the ways he touched the lives of those around him.

His children and grandchildren remember fondly:

• the extraordinary scavenger hunts he would put on for his grandchildren
• His hand-drawn cards (John was a talented artist!)
• Helping every grandchild with math at some point in their life (“Grandpa school”)
• bed-time stories, some short and some unbelievably long and imaginative (Alice and Jane and the penny story)
• trips with his grandchildren, including destinations like Chemainus and a brave tour of England with his French grandchildren
• His culinary specialty – cut along the dotted line soup!
• Teaching his grandchildren to play chess and then later beating them almost every game (the family champion!)
• Buying his grandchildren shirley temples at the faculty club
• Going for walks with his tilly hat and dark sunglasses, even when it was mild and cloudy.
• John falling asleep at the cinema and the kids being embarrassed when he snored
• Endless games of Snakes and Ladders, Loup Garou (although nobody could quite figure out the purpose of this game…), and more.
• Taking his grandchildren to camps in the summer (like sports camps)
• And being loving and accepting of his family no matter what

In his latter years John spent his days visiting Ludmilla at Mt. St. Mary’s. Ludmilla had developed Alzheimers and needed full time care which John could no longer give. John developed a daily ritual, rain or shine, seven days a week of picking Ludmilla up from Mt. St. Mary’s to take her for a drive (or a Trishaw experience). He was always looking for what we lovingly termed “a destination”. Many days involved a walk with Ludmilla around Turkey Head or Clover Point (John would always point out how the picnic tables were never used!). Other days he would stop at Alexandra’s or their house in Rockland for tea. And sometimes it simply involved a soft ice cream cone at the Beacon Drive in. The staff at Mt. St. Mary’s frequently commented on John’s incredible dedication to his wife.

John lived a very full life and always took a genuine interest in the lives of others. In the later years of his life, in addition to all that was mentioned above, he spent his time:

• Attending Friday evenings at the Faculty Club with the “regular crew”.
• Spending time with family, his three children and many grandchildren (including treating them to their annual trip to the Deep Cove Chalet)
• Enjoying walks with the Cathedral Walking Group
• Hosting (expert level!) trivia for his neighbours at Amica Somerset even through his health struggles.
• Enjoying the finer treats in life, like nespressos, marmalade, and gin martinis!
• Researching his genealogical roots and putting together the family history with the help of his daughter-in-law, Laurence, for the benefit of his grandchildren
• And writing articles on a vast array of subjects, from mathematics to public policy, on his personal blog Beorminga.

Not long before his passing, John remarked on how much he loved his family and how proud he was of his children, Andrew, Anthony and Alexandra. On his last day, he was surrounded by family. All of his children and grandchildren were there with him in the room or connected via video call (from all around the world no less). He passed peacefully, holding my (Maria) and my father’s hands. John is loved and dearly missed.

A close family friend visited John during his final hours and shared some words on the end of life from her late husband. We’d like to end off by sharing an extract from a funeral address by the late Desmond Carroll that we think John would have appreciated.

“The end of life brings us to a threshold as we face that mysterious place where the known and the unknown intersect. We ponder, with all those emotions that seek to understand, what may be beyond. As we were sustained and comforted in our lives by love, there is a greater love that waits on the other side of the threshold that understands our humanity…