In Memoriam / Magnus Flynn

 

Magnus Flynn, who was Dean of Students at Sir George Williams University and then Concordia between 1962 and 1982, died April 7 at the age of 83.

An obituary in The Gazette on May 1 well describes his genial personality and his wide range of accomplishments. He was a war hero, a good boxer and an inspiring basketball coach who led the Senior Georgians to eight championships in 11 years.

Born in Scotland, he came to Montreal as an infant and grew up on Mountain St. He spent a lot of time at the YMCA, where he fell in love with basketball.

He dropped out of high school to join the Victoria Rifles, and at 20, may have been the youngest sergeant in the Canadian Forces, and was loaned to the British army as a platoon commander with the Dorset Regiment. He took up boxing, and after he KO’d Britain’s welterweight champion, he had offers to turn professional.

Flynn returned from the war front with his legs full of shrapnel, but he enrolled at Sir George and got his bachelor of commerce degree in 1949.

He was hired in 1952 as Director of Athletics as well as varsity basketball coach. His record over the next 11 years was 147-27, making him one of the most successful coaches in university history. His 1957-58 team won 13 straight games, and are in the Concordia Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1962, he was named Dean of Students. According to the Gazette obituary, “he also became a justice of the peace so students wouldn’t have to pay to get the legal declarations they required for grants and loans.

“He was a rumpled figure on campus, often likened to Humphrey Bogart, who, like Flynn, did his thinking between long hauls on a cigarette.”

A former team member is quoted as saying that Flynn “got a real kick out of seeing people grow and develop. It wouldn’t have been Sir George without him.”

He was Dean of Students during the 1969 computer riot at Sir George, and The Gazette reports that he used his influence to have students re-admitted if they re-applied.

He retired in 1982 and moved to Victoria,where he coached a pee wee team from a wheelchair, even after his legs were amputated two and a half years ago.

We extend our sympathy to his widow, Joan Richardson-Flynn, who was Assistant Dean of Students at Sir George for many years. They married in 1978.

 

In Memoriam
Taeko Yamamura Teesler

 

With sadness, Library staff has learned of the death of Taeko Yamamura Teesler, who passed away April 29 at the Montreal General Hospital.

Mrs. Taeko Teesler joined Concordia University Library in October 1975, and became a full-time employee in 1978. She worked in various positions in Collection Services, as clerk/typist, as Authority Assistant and most recently, as Bibliographic Searching Assistant in the Bibliographic Access Unit.

She was a valued colleague not only among staff in Collection Services but throughout the Library. Her unfailing good humour, warm smile and sweetness were cherished by all who knew her.

Our heartfelt sympathy and prayers go to her husband Horace, her mother, father, and other members of her family.