GORDON GEORGE FORSTNER, M.D., FRCP(C), Emeritus Professor, University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children. March 28, 1934 - July 26, 2023.
We celebrate the life of Dr. Gordon G. Forstner, M.D., FRCP(C), (Markham); father to Gordon (Andrea) and Lawrence (Cheryl); step-father to Laura (Mitch) and Anna; grandfather to Sacha, Tatiana (Lujack), Kayleigh, Samantha, Sofia, Campbell and Ayden; great-grandfather to Elessia, uncle to Melissa, Jay and Nathaniel; pre-deceased by his wife, Marcela Ricart (Dec. 7, 2003).
Throughout his life, he was close to his brother, Lorne (Sara, deceased) of Ann Arbour, Michigan; and his sister, Susan Leonard (Joseph, deceased) in Toronto. He passed away peacefully on July 26, 2023, at the age of 89, surrounded by family at Markham Stouffville Hospital after a lengthy illness that he bore matter-of-factly.
Born in Hamilton, Ont., and raised in Burlington, he later attended the University of Toronto. To pay tuition, he worked summers in the Dofasco infirmary, where his father worked in the casting operation. At U of T, he was elected President of the Student Administrative Council and graduated with an M.D. in 1958. He met Janet Chisholm, who became his wife and colleague for the next 35 years.
He did postgraduate training in Vancouver, Chicago and Boston in pathology, internal medicine and gastroenterology, before joining the faculty at the Toronto Western Hospital in 1968. In 1974, doctors Jan and Gord Forstner were recruited to the Hospital for Sick Children to create the Kinsmen Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Research Centre. This powerhouse translational clinical and basic science research team made numerous advances in understanding the disease, and in 1989 had a major breakthrough with the discovery of the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis. The team received generous support from the Canadian Medical Research Council and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Canada. Knowledge of the gene paved the way for subsequent dramatic improvements in treatment and longevity for CF patients, effectively turning an incurable disease into a curable one.
Gord was an astute clinician who imparted critical thinking in the appraisal of the medical literature that was considered during weekly clinical teaching rounds. He wasn't afraid to challenge established conventions and what was considered accepted dogma of the time! Although a somewhat reluctant administrator, Gord very much enjoyed his term as President of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (1981-1982). He subsequently became Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at SickKids (1986-1993) where he provided needed guidance, sage mentorship and careful leadership to the next generation of new faculty and fellows working and training in the division. Other leadership positions included President of the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation (1979-1980) and board membership in numerous medical associations.
He was Professor Emeritus, Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children (1992-1999), Staff Physician and Chief, Division of Gastroenterology, a specialist in internal medicine and Professor in the Dept. of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology. He and his colleagues published over 200 academic papers and review articles in textbooks during his tenure.
As a prodigious reader of history, politics and historical fiction, he passed that love of reading to his kids. He was also a birder, and his excitement about the annual warbler migration was infectious. A self-taught, perhaps overly ambitious weekend carpenter, he could underestimate his limitations but also passed on those interests.
Experimentation was in his genes: his dawn forays for forest fungi were legend - known to fill the freezer with amorphous, odorific puffballs and suspicious fleshy lumps. Similarly, his swamp-bound forays for freshwater clams introduced him to one or two waterborne infestations. As a do-it-yourself untrained mechanic, he was responsible for the retirement of at least one outboard motor, some lawnmowers and miscellaneous hardware.
He was a great skater from years of shinny on frozen ponds in Burlington, where he was raised, and later he made backyard rinks for his kids in the Toronto neighbourhood of Moore Park, where competition often raged until sundown. His love of learning the Spanish language led him to his second wife, Marcela, and her two daughters. He enjoyed their trips to Argentina, where he was welcomed into her family.
It was Gord's wish that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Evergreen Hospice, Markham, Stouffville and Thornhill.