William Teron

TERON, William

Nov 15, 1932 - Mar 12, 2018

Passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 12, 2018 at the Queensway Carleton Hospital at the age of 85. Bill is survived by his wife, Jean, his four children Chris (Louisa), Kim (Ross Tuddenham), Will (Amy Waugh) and Bruce (Adrienne), his sister, Adele (Robert Watson), and his seven grandchildren, Briar (Craig Dent), Heather (Jonathan Canning), Hannah, Paige, Mark, Robert and Clare. He was predeceased by his parents, George and Sadie, and his brother, John.

Bill was born in the Ukrainian village of Gardenton, Manitoba in 1932. His family moved to Winnipeg in 1942 where he eventually studied drafting at St John's Technical High School. He won a competition for a drafting job with the Federal government and moved to Ottawa in 1951. He soon changed jobs and worked as a draftsman for custom homes with C.A. Johannsen. In 1955 he married Jean Woodwark and he started his own company to design and build custom homes. This lead to his first work building communities, starting in McKellar Park, Lynwood Village, Qualicum and Graham Park and eventually the planning of Kanata as the first garden city outside the Greenbelt. He built its first community of Beaverbrook and started the high technology park so that people could work and live in the same place. He is affectionately known as the "Father of Kanata". In addition to housing communities, he designed and built the Talisman Hotel, Carleton Towers Hotel, Inn of the Provinces office and hotel complex, the Dufferin House, 300 Driveway, Park Square, Belvedere Gate condominiums. In 1970 his decision to turn over derelict industrial lands in Toronto to the federal government at cost in return for a commitment to create a public park inspired the 1972 announcement of Harbourfront by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau – a decision that had a major impact on the city. In 1973, Prime Minister Trudeau asked him to leave his business and become the President of Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Over the next seven years there he also became its Chairman and was Secretary (Deputy Minister) of the Ministry of State for Urban Affairs. At CMHC, he was especially proud of the Assisted Home Ownership Program, Assisted Rental Program, Rural and Native Housing, programs for non-profit and coop housing, and the inner city redevelopments in Montreal, Quebec City, Granville Island in Vancouver, Marketplace in Saint John. When he left CMHC, inspired by his international roles with the United Nations and O.E.C.D, he devoted his time to research and development of building technologies. He wanted to create a self-help technology to allow people in other countries to build affordable housing of North American quality standards, using local labour and materials, following their local cultures and design. This led to many new, patented technologies for residential and commercial buildings, which he used to build over four million square feet of buildings in Canada, United States and Wales and do consulting work in 13 other countries.

Bill was one of the founding trustees of the National Arts Centre, was on the Boards of the Canadian Council on Urban and Regional Research, Canadian Housing Design Council, African Students Foundation, National Capital Arts Alliance, Ashbury College, Carleton University, Ottawa General Hospital, National Gallery of Canada Foundation, and he worked with Lester Pearson on the creation of the Lester B. Pearson United World College in Victoria.

Bill has received a Community Design Award for Kanata, three national and four regional awards for housing from the Canadian Housing Design Council, the Jane Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Urban Institute, a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and Doctor of Laws honoris causa from Carleton University. He is an Honorary Member of the Ontario Association of Architects, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

The family will hold a private memorial and interment at the Pinecrest Cemetery. Those wishing to honour Bill's memory may send a donation to the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation, where Bill received excellent loving care in his final weeks.