In memoriam John Economides

 

Concordia lost a good friend on Jan. 19, when John Nicholas Economides, C.M., died at the age of 85.

An alumnus of Sir George Williams University (BComm, 1941), he joined the Royal Canadian Navy soon after graduation and served in the North Atlantic (1943-1945), retiring with the rank of lieutenant.

Philanthropist

He then embarked on a long and successful career at Imperial Tobacco and Imasco. He devoted much of his time to charitable and non-profit organizations, and raised millions of dollars for health care, social services and education.

He served on the board of directors of many organizations, notably the Kidney Foundation of Canada, and was on Concordia’s Board of Governors from 1987 to 1995, when he was named Governor Emeritus.

Devoted alumnus

John served on the board of directors of the Association of Alumni of Sir George Williams University from 1981, and served as its president; he was also a director of the Concordia University Alumni Association, from 1985 to 1992. He was invested in the Order of Canada in 1997 and received an honorary doctorate from Concordia in 1998.

Sir George and Concordia always remained close to his heart, and he was a tireless Concordia booster. He tried not to miss a Stingers football game or any Sir George or Concordia event, and the night before his passing he attended a Concordia Sports Hall of Fame meeting.

He is survived by his wife, Sophia (Agetees), and sons Nicholas and Peter, to whom we extend our sympathies.

Donations in his honour can be made to the John N. & Sophia Economides Scholarship Endowment Fund through the Concordia Office of Advancement & Alumni Relations.

 

In memoriam Beverley Abramovitz

 

Her friends at Concordia were sorry to hear of the death on Jan. 13, from cancer, of Beverley Abramovitz.

At the time of her death, she was a secretary in CENPARMI, the Centre for Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence, in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.

Her friend Monica Etwaroo said she had known Beverley since 1974. “We worked together in the Mathematics Department. Later on, she worked for the Computer Science Department, then the Dean's office, and after that with CENPARMI, on the sixth floor of the GM- Building.”

A memorial celebration of Beverley’s life is being organized in CENPARMI, on Thursday, Feb. 10, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. RSVP by Feb. 8 to monica@cenparmi.concordia.ca, or ext. 7950.