Obituary of Ian McIntosh

Harvey Ian McIntosh was born June 25, 1930 in Toronto, Ontario to Marion (née Williams) and Harvey Ellsworth McIntosh. He grew up in the Lawrence Park area of Toronto.

Ian won a scholarship award and graduated from the University of Toronto in Mathematics and Physics in 1952. He became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries on his 25th birthday in 1955, becoming the youngest person to do this since 1939.

Waterloo inaugurated a new university in 1959, the University of Waterloo. One of his professors at U of T, Ralph Stanton, was appointed as the Dean of Mathematics, and he approached Ian in 1960 to teach Actuarial Science. Ian served as adjunct professor with the university in the early 1960s, originating their Actuarial Science program. He was also a member of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and served as Secretary.

Ian worked in the summer while at university at the Equitable Life Insurance Company, where he met his wife, Frances Rothaermel. In 1952 he joined the company and stayed 42 years, eventually serving as the President and CEO and as a company director, beginning in 1987. He retired from the Equitable Life in 1992.

Ian was always interested in golf and began to play the game in his early teens. He scored 4 holes in one. His first one came at the 7th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Club in California, and the other three were at Westmount Golf Club in Kitchener. He was a member at Westmount, and served on its Board of Directors, and was President in 1981. Ian was also a member for 19 years at Foxfire Golf Club in Naples, Florida. He also curled for many years as skip at Westmount and served on the condo association at Foxfire. He was fortunate to serve as Marshall at the Inaugural World Cup Championship at Valderrama, Spain.

He loved playing bridge, ping pong, crokinole, cribbage and swimming.

He enjoyed travelling and visited many countries in the world, usually accompanied by his golf clubs. In 2003 he and Frances organized the trip of a lifetime to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on a cruise to the Bahamas with 20 members of the family.

He was a long-time member of the Pan Politae Club (Y’s Men’s Club), the Ribald Investment Club, and the Retired Business and Professional Men’s Club of Kitchener-Waterloo. He did fund-raising for the U of W and WLU in retirement, and organized the Conestoga College fund-raising campaign in 1992 where he was presented with a plaque for “commitment to professional excellence through education and service.”

Ian served on the Board of Directors for Freeport Hospital and the Grand River General Hospital. He was also on the Board for the Church of the Good Shepherd. He was a member of the Pension Committee for the Swedenborgian Church of North America’s Ministers.

Ian is survived by his loving wife, Frances, his brother David (Carol), his four children Kathryn Craig (John), Carol (Dan Heffernan), David (Brenda) and John McIntosh (Monica), his seven grandchildren Gavin, Robert (Beth), and Hilary Craig (Robert Prusinski), and Jeffrey (Hai Van), Nicholas (Alessandra), Sarah and Adam McIntosh, as well as his six great-grandchildren, Kemper, Beckett and Hudson Craig, and Mai An, William and Ian McIntosh.

Friends are invited to share their memories of Ian with his family during visitation at the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home 171 King St. S., Waterloo on Thursday, December 12, 2019 from 2 – 4 & 7 – 9 p.m. A Memorial Service will be held in the funeral home chapel on Friday, December 13, 2019 at 3 p.m. with a reception to follow in the Fireside Room of the funeral home.

Condolences for the family and in lieu of flowers, donations to the Church of the Good Shepherd, Kitchener or the Alzheimer Society of Canada, may be arranged through the funeral home at www.erbgood.com or 519-745-8445.