Gordon Warme died on June 1, 2023, at the age of 90, exactly one year after retiring and giving up his medical license. He had a peaceful medically assisted death after living and fighting with multiple myeloma for the past 10 years, which is about six years longer than the prognosis he was given.
He was surrounded by his three children, Paul (Maxine), Diana and Karl (Jill); his adored grandchildren (Alex, Jessica, Stefani, Mariah, Sasha, Miles and Chloe); and his companion of over 15 years, Chui-Ping Mak. He was preceded in death by his younger brother, Ernie Warme, who died only one month ago at the age of 85; and he is survived by his younger siblings, Gretel McGillivray and Rudi Warme.
Gordon was born and raised in Toronto to German/Austrian immigrant parents, but moved east briefly during a part of the three years that his father was interned during the war. He spent many happy summers working at the Banff Springs Hotel as a bellboy in order to pay for his medical school tuition. He graduated from University of Toronto in medicine and then psychiatry, also attended the Universität Heidelberg in Germany, and then in 1961, moved to Topeka, Kansas, with his wife, Barbara, to attend the Menninger School of Psychiatry for psychoanalytic training, and where he began raising his family.
He settled back in Toronto in 1969, where he worked at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (now CAMH) for most of his career. He was the first director and one of the founders of the Child Psychoanalytic Program in 1976, which is still up and running. He also had a private practice and was an academic in the Dept. of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto for over 40 years. He wrote five books, and just completed one that is as of yet unpublished. A documentary was also recently completed about his professional life, which is yet to be released.
He loved his cottage and his garden, was an avid cyclist, a keen tennis player, loved to travel and was a lifelong subscriber to the National Ballet and Canadian Opera Company. He was also a voracious reader and one of Toronto Public Library's most enthusiastic customers.