Lewis Richard (Rick) Scott

Dear husband, father, friend, teacher, football coach, mentor, tutor. Born Feb. 5, 1943, in Toronto. Died Nov. 11, 2010, in Toronto of heart disease, aged 67.

It was somehow appropriate that Rick Scott died on Remembrance Day. Rick taught history at Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, Ont., for more than 30 years, and one of his favourite topics to teach was the First World War. He made the battles come alive for his students by vividly describing the scenes and showing them real weapons used in the war.

Rick was a beloved and respected teacher and also coach of both boys' football and girls' flag football at Mac. As a coach, he was often restrained physically by his assistant coaches on the sidelines because of his reactions to what he thought were blatant bad calls by referees. Rick was a passionate coach who could not stand injustice on the football field or in life.

He was also a huge fan of both American pro and college football games. He spent hours researching and analyzing statistics so he could be prepared when he entered a pool or made bets.

Rick grew up in Toronto, then moved to Scarborough. At Thomson Collegiate Institute, he met his first wife, Christine, whom he married in 1969.

Rick developed his love of history thanks to Thomson teacher Bob Brown, who was instrumental in Rick's change of career goal from architect to history teacher. Rick graduated in 1966 from the University of Toronto with a BA in history, and was hired by Bob at Thomson. In 1970, Rick was hired as assistant head of history at Macdonald, and was promoted to head of history in 1978. Since Christine died of cancer later in 1978, it was a bittersweet year.

Rick hand-picked and encouraged teachers who raised the level of scholarship and interest in history, law, society and philosophy to high levels. Many of those teachers remained Rick's friends even after he retired in 1999. As a mentor, Rick was always willing to share his wealth of knowledge in many subjects. As an educator, he influenced and encouraged countless students and teachers.

In 1979, Rick married Linda, and they had two daughters, Kathryn and Bonnie. He loved spending weekends and summers at the family's cottage near Campbellford, Ont. He taught the girls how to canoe, fish, drive a motorboat, water ski and appreciate all aspects of wildlife. He loved his family more than anything, often bringing home flowers for Linda and enthusiastically supporting the girls' interests in art, photography and gardening.

Rick enjoyed travelling, and the family was fortunate to take a last road trip together in March, 2010, in Nevada and Arizona. Rick and Linda also took a fabulous final holiday in September, 2010 - a cruise on the Danube River, then Munich during the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest. Rick loved good beer, but especially single malt scotch.

He was our hero and is terribly missed.

By Linda Scott, Rick's wife, and Bonnie Scott, Rick's daughter