Obituaries

Written by Norm Halliwell.

"Today, I would like to advise all of the passing of David Henry Eccles MBE who left this world on 7/12/21 at 8.40am aged 89 from a hospital bed in South Australia.

I remember David very fondly having first met up with him and his wife in England in 1988, and he took my son and I to the most westerly coast of the U.K. near the North Sea; it was bitterly cold there. We came to know him through his involvement with Dr. Ethelwynne Trewavas (later to become Dame Ethelwynne Trewavas), and Lake Malawi Cichlids in general and through the book they co-authored call “Malawi Cichlid Fishes. The classification of some Haplochromine genera. Lake Fish Movies, Herten, 334pp in 1989”.

David was a Rhodes Scholar from the University of Cape Town in Africa, and received an MBE for all his research in 1932.

I corresponded with him on many occasions on differing subjects, mainly to do with African Cichlids, and we kept in contact with each other over many years, to a point that I needed to get someone with credentials to adjudicate on a matter of utmost importance to the Australian Aquarium Industry, when the South Australian Fisheries Department was attempting to totally ban some 360 species of ornamental finfish from being kept, bred, and sold in that State.

It took the Aquarium Industry some 8.5 years to get to a point that these 360 species needed to be analysed and adjudicated as to whether these fish would cause a problem if they accidentally or otherwise appeared in any waterway of South Australia.

To cut a long story short, David was supplied by me with the year round climatic conditions of every waterway in South Australia, together with a list of the 360 species in question, in order to come up with the facts of any incursion into the environment there and was employed by the Aquarium Industry to determine and adjudicate as to how these 360 species of fish would be received into the environment in S.A., if they suddenly appeared there, and after several weeks work David came back with a pile of 500mm high paperwork of these 360 species and eventually this was supplied to the S.A. Fisheries Department, that FLOORED them in its detail, that enabled some 341 species from the list of 360, be allowed to be kept, bred, and sold in that State.

If it were not for David Eccles, I really do not know what would have happened, as I felt this was going to be the “thin edge of the wedge” as I felt there were other Australian States looking at this case in S.A., (which incidentally there were), and I for one did not want this to occur in New South Wales.

I will be eternally grateful for all the detailed work that David Eccles supplied to resolve this issue on behalf of the Aquarium Industry. The respect I have for him is enormous, it really is."

Ronald Storrs McCall died peacefully in Lachute, Quebec, surrounded by his family, at the age of 91. He is lovingly remembered by his wife, Ann (née Griffin), his children, Mengo, Kai (Sepideh), Sophie (David) and his grandchildren Kalliopé, Anoushak, Timoléon, Maya, Skye and Scarlet.

Storrs was a deeply curious person with a lifelong love of learning. He brought big ideas to all he did as a philosopher, teacher, farmer and fun-loving family man. He loved sports and was a true all-rounder in golf, hockey, rowing, tennis, squash and skiing. Together with Ann, he hosted many memorable dinner parties. He loved head-scratching riddles, valued conversation and challenged his guests intellectually in friendly and generous ways. He was committed to many causes, from promoting education in Uganda and Southern Sudan in the 1960s, resisting land expropriation at Mirabel in the 1970s, promoting a bilingual and multicultural Quebec in the 1980s, proposing a Great Books program at McGill University in the 1990s and supporting the Nature Conservancy of Canada in the 2000s. His warm, positive and hopeful vision of life was shaped by values of fairness and generosity.

Always a top student, Storrs became a Rhodes scholar in 1953 and earned his D.Phil in 1964 at Oxford University. With interests in philosophy and math, physics and literature, art and politics, he was a true Renaissance man, bridging academic disciplines. His life's work as a philosopher culminated in his landmark book, A Model of the Universe (Oxford 1994). Beginning with a straightforward explanation of time flow using a branched tree model, the book applies advanced theories of quantum mechanics and math to shed light on enduring philosophical questions.

Storrs had a legendary style of lecturing, captivating generations of students with his accessible delivery, his humour and his brightly patterned, wide ties. He believed everyone benefited from studying the great thinkers in the Western canon, and his Introduction to Philosophy class was taken by thousands of undergraduates who went on to pursue careers in many different fields. From 1965 to 1971, he and others worked to establish the study of philosophy at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. He also taught at the University of Pittsburgh before returning with his young family to McGill. He had a long-standing presence at McGill, with over fifty years of teaching, beginning in his early twenties. He was a daily attendee at the Faculty Club where he joined fellow academics in lively discussions over lunch. He gave generously to McGill, establishing the Professor Storrs McCall Fellowship for Graduate Students in Philosophy in 2019.

North River Farm was Storrs's true home, and a gathering place for his immediate and extended family. His interests at the farm included agriculture as well as a deep commitment to nature and conservation. Storrs's father first established the farm, and it grew further with the dedicated contributions of Bill Brass, his son Ian Brass, and Clifton Berry. Their expertise in agriculture produced top quality Jersey and Aberdeen Angus herds, maple syrup, and crops. A decade ago, wishing to preserve the natural beauty and biodiversity of the farm in perpetuity, Storrs signed a document of protection with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

All of his accomplishments would not have had meaning without Storrs's beloved wife and companion, Ann. They met in 1962 in the philosophy classroom at McGill. Waiting until after her graduation, they married and set off on a life of adventure; enjoying a happy and harmonious marriage of fifty-seven years. Their compatibility extended in everything they did. They enjoyed combining work and pleasure, whether it was singing together in a choir or taking sabbaticals in Australia. In later years, Storrs was lovingly cared for by Ann, who always encouraged him to stay active and connected to his family. For Storrs, his enduring love for his family always came first and was the source of his greatest happiness.