It is with overwhelming sadness that we announce the passing of our much loved, husband, father, and grandfather. Ian was predeceased by his father, Derek Manners. Left behind to grieve are his wife of 43 years Deborah, his children Hayley (Kyle) and Chris (Navi), his grandchildren, Rhys, Gavin, Alys, and baby James, his mother Jean, his brothers Neil (Tracy) and Clive (Lucy), many nieces and nephews, as well as members of his research group (current and past) and the many colleagues and friends at UVic and around the world.
Ian was born in Croydon, UK. He completed his BSc and PhD in chemistry at the University of Bristol, UK. Following this, he was a postdoctoral fellow first at RWTH Aachen University (1986), Germany and then Pennsylvania State University, USA (1988). He took up his first faculty position in 1990 at the University of Toronto and then moved back to the UK in 2006 to take up a position at the University of Bristol. He returned to Canada in 2018 where he took up a faculty position at the University of Victoria. He has mentored many postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students over the years. Ian made such an impact on their lives and this was demonstrated by the overwhelming support received from them over the course of his long and courageous battle with cancer. As well as his obvious passion for chemistry, Ian loved nature and spent weekends and holidays hiking the many beautiful trails on Vancouver Island. Ian had a great sense of humour; he always made us laugh and had such fun with his grandchildren. His concern for his family and research group was uppermost in his mind through his final days. We will miss you and love you always.
We would like to thank the nurses and doctors at BC Cancer (especially Dr. Selina Wong), his wonderful GP, Dr. Oosthuizen, and the amazing people at Home and Community Care and the Victoria Hospice Palliative Response Team for their kindness and compassion.
In Lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Victoria Hospice.
For those who wish to watch a recording of the service, please click on the image below.
Condolences may be offered to the family below.
McCall Gardens
www.mccallgardens.com
80 Responses
We have collaborated for so many years and I have always been amazed by Ian’s kindness, positivism, and willingness to encourage and help everybody around him. Ian also had the undeniable talent to write with elegance, transforming a manuscript in a delightful reading. Several laudatory adjectives have been used to describe him. I would certainly choose “admirable”. As we were exchanging during these last two years, I could not help but admiring him when he was telling me how eager he was to resume hiking or that he might have been pushing himself a little bit too hard with his teaching and talks, while, myself, I just want to rest when I catch a mere cold…
Finally, my main regret is that I did not have the chance to talk with him about Pink Floyd and the Monty Python. He would have certainly told me what is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow, either in Europe, Africa or on the dark side of the moon.
Cheers.
Dear Deborah, Chris, Hayley and family,
Ian was a hugely influential in my career and life. I shall be forever grateful to him. I have never met anyone who could so perfectly strike the delicate balance of friendship and boss-ship. He had an uncanny ability to focus everyone around him on being the best they can be at chemistry whilst openly displaying a unguarded and infectious enthusiasm for everything from birding to cricket to an occasional shandy. An inspirational mentor and friend, I will be forever grateful for Ian’s guidance during and long after my Ph.D. studies at UofT. Please accept my deepest sympathies as you mourn this great loss.
Derek
My condolences to you Deborah and your family.
I always thought very highly of Ian – his generosity with his time and experience always made me feel like a valued member of his group during my time at the University of Bristol.
I may not have seen him or spoken to him in quite a while but I always found that he crossed my mind from time to time. Even now , I think back to those times and experiences, as well as the lessons I learned from our conversations, feeling grateful that I had the opportunity to be mentored by such an impressive, humble and wonderful person.
As has been echoed throughout the messages I have read here, I hope some comfort can be taken from the fact that he was and continues to be so highly thought of by so many people all across the world.
James
Dear Deborah, Hayley and Chris,
Ian was an exceptional man and I’ll forever be grateful for the opportunity he gave me to be part of his group in Bristol.
His remarkable generosity, particularly in making time for meaningful conversations, whether to exchange ideas or simply connect, remains vivid in my memory.
I’ll forever hold him in high regard and continue to share stories of my time with him and his group,
JC
Dear Deborah and family – it was with much sadness to learn earlier today of the passing of Ian.
Ian was one of those people who always found time for others in his busy schedule and I especially remember when he took the time to write me a lovely message when I won an award at UoB and also to personally come to see me to say goodbye and wish me well when I moved from Chemistry to Engineering.
I am so sorry for your loss, you must all miss him very much.
Take care,
Julie
Nik and I were very fortunate to have Ian and Debbie as our neighbours when they lived in Wales. They were wonderful and our old cat Cleo used to move in with them when we went on holiday. Animals and children are excellent judges of character. The service yesterday was very moving and it was lovely to see so many shared photos and memories of a wonderful man.
Much love to Debbie Chris and Hayley and everyone xx
Deborah, Hayley, Chris and Family,
As someone else said, what a beautiful celebration of a beautiful person. It was inspiring to hear how Ian’s wonderful qualities, his humility, humour, generosity, mentorship and bright spirit, have positively impacted not only his kids, grandkids, spouse and broader family, but also his world-wide network of students, colleagues and peers. Being myself the spouse of 1 of Ian’s students (Dan Foucher, his first PhD student, whose work and life Ian impacted so positively and profoundly), who was myself positively impacted by both Ian and Debbie, I can also attest to that. It is a wonderful tribute to Ian and to the life he lived that this is so. Debbie and Family, we know Ian will be so greatly missed. We hope this network and memories of the wonderful times you shared with Ian will help to support you and lift you up.
Deborah, Hayley and Chris, What a beautiful celebration of a beautiful life. I did my undergraduate fourth year thesis in Ian’s group at University of Toronto when he was a young Assistant Professor. Although I worked with Ian for just a short while, his encouragement and consistently pushing me to go out and do more than I imagined gave me the courage to do exactly that. Ian gave the greatest gift by inspiring many to discover what we didn’t know we had in ourselves. His imprint on lives and this world will forever be.
With condolences,
Fazila Seker
Dear Deborah,
Ian will always be in our hearts.
Anne
I’m so so very sorry x I have the most magical memories of Ian, and they are precious x
The countless nights watching the stars, the constant hocus pocus chemical whizz bangs and explosions in Uncle Dels garage, and always mostly sitting with his nose in a book, The National Geographic, one I remember so clearly, me looking the piks and Ian taking it all in ❤️ Meeting Debbie for the first time and how proud Ian was when she was pregnant xx Time changes so much, but the everlasting memories of pure happiness and fun will stay with me forever x Thank you Ian for these memories and all the love to Debbie, Hayley and Chris xx My heartfelt sympathy to you all x God Bless ❤️