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Alumni In The News

Jeffrey “Jeff” Turnbull (’70)

Over the years, NT Alumnus Dr. Jeff Turnbull has been in the news on a number of occasions. The highly respected doctor spent nine years as part of the faculty at the University of Western Ontario, where he also chaired the Division of Internal Medicine and served as deputy chief of the Department of Medicine. In 1991, he was recruited to the University of Ottawa and served as vice-dean of medical education for several years. He was also a key figure in the Educating Future Physicians for Ontario Project, and served as president of the Medical Council of Canada. He was appointed chair of the Department of Medicine in 2001, and in 2008 he became chief of staff at The Ottawa Hospital. He has been the recipient of many honours and awards including the Order of Canada (2007).

During the 90s, Dr. T, as he is known, became increasingly interested in providing better care to Ottawa’s homeless population. To this end, he helped establish Ottawa’s Inner City Health Project and has served as its medical director since its inception. This initiative has won numerous awards and received national as well as international acclaim. Working with the homeless has become Jeff’s driving passion, and it is for this reason that he has recently been in the news. At a time when he could think about retiring, Jeff is stepping down from his position at The Ottawa Hospital to spend more time working with the homeless. For full details, check the following videos:

Alumni Events, Alumni News

Red & Grey Day / Homecoming 2017

October 12 and 13 were certainly busy days for North Toronto and its alumni. These two days, which preceded the very successful Homecoming Concert on the 14th, were set up to attract former students to reconnect with each other and visit or revisit their alma mater.

Mary Kay (Hartman) Winter (’61), Nancy Caldicott (’61) and Stephen Hartman (’57) took in a tour of the school
Mary Kay (Hartman) Winter (’61), Nancy Caldicott (’61) and Stephen Hartman (’57) took in a tour of the school

Red and Grey Day on the 12th featured a number of sporting events and a reception in the staff room for alumni. Various memorabilia from different years were on display for everyone to look over, eliciting recollections of past events and classmates. Afterwards there was a get-together at the nearby Granite Brewery, run by NT’s own Sam Keefe (’06).

The Class of ’57 gathered at the Rose and Crown.
The Class of ’57 gathered at the Rose and Crown.

The next day, the alumni were treated to a Show and Share event where people identified former classmates from old photos or brought their own memorabilia. A wide range of classes were represented, and people came from as far away as British Columbia and even New Zealand. An added feature to the day was a number of tours of the school led by current students in the PAL program. For many of those present it was their first view of the new school, and they were impressed with the facilities and also grateful that the design still included features of the former building. In the evening, a number of classes got together at various venues across town.

Class of ’87 gathered at the Monarch Tavern
The Class of ’87 gathered at the Monarch Tavern (owned by NT alumnus Evan Georgiades,  ’87).

All in all, it was a wonderful opportunity for NT grads to relive the spirit of NTCI!

Alumni News, Fundraising

Celebrating Excellence: Keeping the Spirit Alive

It has been an exciting fall for the NTCI Foundation. Our first major Homecoming event culminated in the concert Saturday night, starring Jim Cuddy and The Skydiggers. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to watch multiple generations of NT musicians perform some of their best-loved music to the many generations in the audience. Let’s keep the spirit alive by making a lasting contribution to our scholarship fund.

The Celebrating Excellence campaign concludes at year end. As a result of contributions to date, we have been able to set up the new trophy case, restore some of the most iconic trophies and contribute over $3,500 to the scholarship fund at Commencement in October. We have decided to increase that amount by 10 percent next year. This will bring NTCI awards recognizing academics, athletics, arts and leadership more in line with current costs. We hope you will consider making a donation; one hundred percent will go directly to the scholarship fund.  

Generous donors will be acknowledged on a plaque on the trophy case itself. All contributors will receive tax receipts (over $25).

Pentagon Patron: $1,000 and above

NT Norseman: $500 to $999

Spirit Sponsor: $250 to $499

Naming rights for the trophy case: $8,000. This is available to an individual, family, team or a graduation class.

Please mail your gift to: The NTCI Foundation at 17 Broadway Ave, Toronto, ON, M4P 1T7. Specify the Celebrating Excellence campaign. If you have questions, email Nancy McFadden at nancyanddoug.mcfadden@gmail.com or 647-351-2850.

Thank you so much. We cannot support this legacy of excellence without you.

Year-End Bonus:

Gifts of $100 or more qualify for a free concert T-shirt (specify size); an NT pop socket or our NTCI centennial history book. If you donate $250 or more, you may select two. These NT heirlooms can be picked up in Room 412 at lunch and after school from Mark Kinoshita. Please contact Mark at mark.kinoshita@tdsb.on.ca to arrange a time and then check in at the office before going up. 

Alumni Events, Alumni News

NTCI Homecoming Concert: Behind the Scenes

NTCI Homecoming Concert: Behind the Scenes                                       

IT HAPPENED! It actually happened! After months and months of planning, emailing, phoning, texting, arranging and discussing – NTCI’s first inaugural Homecoming Concert took place in the school auditorium!

It took an incredible team of people to create this event:  we worked with agents, lighting and sound technicians, our NT principal, swag people, design people, and many, many more, all of whom made this journey exciting at each stage. Along the way we met up with other NT alumni – Devin Cuddy’s agent, Bryan Boake (’05); the Skydiggers’ sound technician, the wonderful Phil Presnal (’85); and overall amazing, incredible swag designers Tammie Presnal Jennings (’82) and Lisa Pen (’82). (We love the cool little “Norseman dude”!) These are just some of the alumni who helped make this event a true success.

And then, after months of preparation – contracts, riders, rentals, logistics of every imaginable stripe – we moved into the school and it hit home that this night was going to be amazing! Throughout the day, the artists came for their respective sound checks, and Lisa, Jamie, Mark and Kirsten had the privilege of sitting in the auditorium and just listening, in awe of the talent onstage, not to mention the quality of the sound, thanks to the acoustics of the auditorium and Phil’s enhancements. Surreal!

Working backstage with all the artists and our amazing MC, Peter Bombaci (’85), was a real treat. Everyone was laid back yet so professional. They all were excited to look around the music rooms and  try to find their photo up on the walls. Some remembered their time at Maytime Melodies, others their time on the field, while others just remembered how they felt overall during their five-year stay at NT. All of them remembered Mr. Russell, a teacher all of them had had, and when he asked if he could come backstage, everyone welcomed him with open arms. They talked about winning and losing City Championships, that one play that ended the game – and the games that are still a “thorn” in Mr. Russell’s side. The stories and the laughter backstage were wonderful!

When the night was upon us and everyone was piling into the school, it was exciting to see old friends and the smiles on faces of everyone who had come to reunite with their school. And that was really the goal of Homecoming Weekend: bringing everyone together to see one another, get connected or reconnect – and enjoy some alumni music along the way!

To all who worked onstage, backstage and behind the scenes: You all kept “alive the spirit of N.T.C.I.”  “Our North Toronto led the way” that night, and and we can’t thank you enough!

by Kirsten Sixt

Obituaries

Elvino Sauro (’52) (1932-2017)

With the passing of Elvino Sauro on September 8, 2017, NTCI lost a great friend and benefactor. Born on October 2, 1932, Elvino was a student at North Toronto during the days of the legendary Jack Dow. A loan from the school enabled Elvino, a talented and enthusiastic trumpet player, to buy a trumpet and take private lessons. He took a part-time job at Dominion bagging groceries to pay it off, but he never forgot the generous gesture.

After graduating from NT, Elvino pursued film, his other passion, by enrolling in the radio and television arts program at Ryerson. On Saturday nights during the winter and spring, he also played quite regularly in the dance band at Balmy Beach Canoe Club and jobbed around with various non-union bands. He also performed with the Ryerson marching band and at some football games with the University of Toronto Band. After graduating from Ryerson, he played in a dance band at Clevelands House in Muskoka then worked as a TV producer in Sault Ste. Marie.

A variety of media-related positions in various locales followed until 1964, when he dropped in to see Ryerson’s Direction of Extension Programs (now Continuing Education) to see if there were any films courses in the calendar. As it turned out, they were short an instructor, and Elvino was hired! By his own admission, he had a knack for explaining things to people, so it was no surprise that by the 1968–69 academic year, he was teaching a full daytime course load at Ryerson and was hired full time the following fall. He never looked back, and by the time he retired in 1998, Elvino was director of the film studies program. His memory will live on at Ryerson, as he established the Elvino Sauro Film Award, granted annually to a fourth-year film studies student.

In his retirement years, Elvino demonstrated his commitment to lifelong learning as he pursued a wide variety of continuing education courses. He even bought a trumpet and started playing again in order to be part of NT’s Memories Forever 100th anniversary alumni concert at Roy Thompson Hall in 2012. Always generous, he also funded the medley and the concert program for this special event. This was in addition to his generous donation to the Heritage Court during the building of the new school and his volunteer work to digitize audio and visual records from NT’s archives.

Elvino’s ongoing financial support of NT’s Music Department led to the establishment of the Elvino Sauro Music Award in the 2013–14 academic year. In keeping with his own experience, the award helps financially needy but promising music students in grades 9, 10 and 11 pay for private lessons, music camps and other music enrichment
opportunities.

He leaves behind his wife, Linda, and extended family, including many nieces and nephews. In keeping with his wishes, a celebration of life for family, friends and colleagues is being held at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club on Saturday September 30th from 2–4:30 p.m. Elvino’s enthusiasm and inspirational outlook on life will be greatly missed, but his generosity and commitment to giving back will continue to benefit students at both NTCI and Ryerson University.

Obituaries

Alan Ogilvie (’55) (1936-2017)

Alan Ogilvie, one of the key organizers of NTCI’s 75th Anniversary, passed away in Collingwood on July 4, 2017, after a short illness. He was born in Toronto in 1936, and his interest in music – an interest that continued all his life – blossomed at NT, where he played the cello in the school’s fledgling music program.

After graduating from NT, Alan studied engineering at the University of (Class of ’59). He then founded and ran Ogilvie Consultants Limited for 35 years until his retirement. Alan was a man of many interests, an avid sailor and skier who travelled extensively to participate in sailing competitions and to search out “good powder”!A kind and gentle person, he possessed a great sense of volunteerism – as evidenced in his work with many arts organizations including NTCI, the Cathedral Bluffs Orchestra (in which he was also a performing member) and other groups. He also passed his love of music on to his sons, Andrew and Cameron, both of whom also graduated from NTCI.

A celebration of Alan’s life was held on Saturday, July 15th in Collingwood, followed by a reception at the Toronto Ski Club. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Diane, his two sons, three grandchildren, and two sisters as well as all who had the privilege of knowing him.

Alumni Events, Alumni News, Fundraising

NTCI Homecoming 2017

Click here for the latest updates

Come one, come all to NT’s inaugural Homecoming Weekend: October 12–14.
If you missed the 100th, this is the perfect opportunity to come out to see the school and reminisce with old friends. And even if you did make it to the 100th, it’s already been five years, so it’s really time to check in again. Here is how the weekend is starting to shape up:
Thursday, October 12 – Red and Grey Day

Featuring most of the fall athletic teams (football, girls’ basketball, boys’ soccer, field hockey, boys’ volleyball) in action in the gym and on the field, with games starting as early as 9:00 a.m. and continuing until late afternoon. Full details will be released in late September once the games have been scheduled.

R&G Day 2015
And here’s what’s on tap for the day:
  • Self-guided tours of the “new” (2010) school
  • Meet current athletes and coaches
  • NT Foundation will host refreshments for alumni in the 2nd- floor staff room from 1–4 p.m. Meet fellow grads! All grads are strongly encouraged to come back, especially those with significant anniversary years: 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007
  • Sale of vintage uniforms
  • A reception will be held at 5:00 p.m. at the Granite Brewery on Mt. Pleasant at Eglinton. Cash bar, light snack provided.

Friday, October 13 – Mix and Mingle

  • Student-led tours of the school starting at 1:00 p.m. (sign-up required)
  • Bring your treasured memorabilia for a show and share from 1–3 p.m. in the staff room on the 2nd floor. (There is an elevator if stairs are hard for you.)
  • Come out to a meet-up with fellow alumni for the evening at a local establishment (details TBD; please watch for email updates).

Saturday, October 14 – NT Homecoming 2017 Concert

  • NT’s auditorium will be THE place to be on Saturday, October 14. A really exciting concert is in the works, and you won’t want to miss it. Mark the date on your calendar and watch your inbox and social media for details and advance notice of ticket sales. This will be an alumni/staff-plus-one event, with ONLY 560 tickets, which are sure to go quickly. Purchasers’ alumni/staff status will be monitored, and tickets will not be sent until we verify that status. If you don’t receive Foundation emails, check here for updates.
NTCI Foundation presents the NT Homecoming 2017 concert
  • featuring
    • Jim Cuddy (’74)
    • The Skydiggers ( Andy Maize (’78) & Josh Finlayson (’82))
    • with special guests Devin Cuddy (’05) & Charlotte Cornfield (’06)
  • Saturday, October 14th
  • 7:00 pm
  • NTCI Auditorium
  • Tickets: $80
  • Limit 2 tickets per NT alumni or NT staff (a 19+ event)
  • Tickets go on sale August 28th on eventbrite:  nthomecoming2017.eventbrite.ca
Alumni In The News

Jennifer Wahlroth (’79)

NT alumna Jennifer Wahlroth was recently the recipient of a rare honour, bestowed on her by North West Territory Pipe Band. A certified accountant by day with Avery Cooper & Co. in Yellowknife, Jennifer started piping lessons in 1992 and began performing with the pipe band two years later. She also put her accounting skills to work as secretary/treasurer of the organization. This past January, her dedication to the band was recognized at its annual Robert Burns Dinner, when she was presented with a Lifetime Honourary Membership. Only the fourth person in the pipe band’s 40-year history to be thus honoured, she was previously awarded the Pipe Major Floyd Adlem Award in 2008 for outstanding service.