Robert Gough

GOUGH, Robert Christian, August 29, 2015, age 41 years, surrounded by family, after a five year fight with esophageal cancer. He leaves behind his loving wife, Tara, and adored children, Charlotte and Lily. Cherished son of Bill and Ann Gough, and beloved brother of Tom (Zoe). Loved son-in-law of Beverley and Gerry (Mary) Givogue and brother-in-law of Greg (Erin) and Amy (Andrew). Fun loving uncle of Owen, Nicky, Mia and George and wonderful nephew, cousin and friend to countless people. Rob was born on August 30, 1973, in Scarborough. At a very young age he saw the original Star Wars movie, cementing a lifelong love of the original trilogy. When he was 12 years old, his father taught him to play the guitar, and in high school he formed the band Mos Eisley, which played across Ontario for several years. A reunion show in 2013, saw the band reunite for two nights of rock ‘n' roll. Most recently, Rob played his guitar as part of the parent band in School of Rock. Following his rock star years, Rob studied horticulture and was a long time employee of Tivoli. He could often be found chatting with costumers, pruning shears in hand. A few years prior to his cancer diagnosis, Rob returned to school to pursue one of his passions: animation. He loved to draw and was a talented artist. For all of those accomplishments, Rob’s true strength was his ability to connect with and talk to anyone. He was a great listener and loved learning new things. He had a witty sense of humour and could always be counted on to bring laughs to any situation. As a devoted father and husband, Rob was unparalleled and will be forever missed. His family would like to thank everyone who supported Team Rob, and would invite anyone who would like to join the team for this year’s Run for a Reason at the Ottawa Race Weekend (The Ottawa Hospital Foundation), to raise funds for cancer research. Rob fought the ultimate battle against cancer with grace, incredible strength, and good humour. He could not have done so for as long as he did without the wonderful medical care that he received at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre; a huge thank you goes out to his entire multidisciplinary team. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, October 3 in Ottawa, details to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to help support his children through a GoFundMe initiative created by Flowers Talk Tivoli. It can be found at www.gofundme.com/v5w9sj8. May the Force always be with you, Rob.