Obituary of Cleveland Dana Fox

To view the livestream of the service, please click here.

“Running with Hope” and inspiring others to do so, all his life, Dana passed on gently at the Fox den in Waterloo on Thursday, October 23, 2025.  He was 67 years old.  And now part of his eternal life is in the lives of his high school sweetheart Carolee (Hallman) and their children Erin (Josh Good), and Jordan (Jeyda Tunçel) and their daughters Alara and (baby) Dana. As well as in the lives of his siblings Joel (Cole Plante) and MaryBeth (John Doolittle), his sisters-in-law Loree (Tom Abbott) and Jayne (Tim McCullough), several nieces and nephews, and their partners, among other family, friends, colleagues, students and friends like family. Dana was predeceased by his parents Isobel (Telford) and Cleveland Barry Fox.

With a long and distinguished career in various Sales Leadership roles, including the local Waterloo Region tech sector, he founded Clevru and built Athena Software as one of the earliest employees.

Dana was a fantastic builder of family, friendship, community, and various projects, including the Fox den in Southampton, and a tree fort for his granddaughters. Dana held a deep passion for music as an accomplished trombone player and lead singer of the band “Private Worlds” who had a music video on MTV in the 80’s (Youtube: Breakdown In Love by Private Worlds 1986). A lover of skiing and one of the pioneers at Chicopee Ski Club, he was part of the first aerial team who competed in high level freestyle skiing competitions which gave his mother early grey hairs. His granddaughters refer to “VubVub” as the “best skier they know”. An avid road cyclist, triathlete, weight lifter and eventually runner, Dana ran in dozens of full marathons including nine trips to the Boston Marathon. Six months prior to his diagnosis, at the age of 64 Dana ran a time of 3.23 at the Boston Marathon and had his eyes set on the World Championship in Berlin, a goal he never took eyes off until his very last moment.

Anyone who spent any time with Dana found his optimism and energy infectious, truly unlike any other. Dana’s gift was his ability to dream bigger than most could imagine, with the discipline, work ethic and belief in the impossible that allowed him to achieve incredible things. He was incredibly humble, grounded, meek on the reins and ultimately driven by a lifelong mission to serve others, especially his family. Most of all, Dana believed in magic, and always left room for it.

In November 2023, Dana was diagnosed with Stage IV Cholangiocarcinoma and told he had 6-12 months to live. Instead of accepting the prognosis, Dana began a journey to inspire others and show how “Nothing is Impossible when you are Running with Hope”. Despite the constant tumour burden that never lightened, Dana proved all doctors wrong by qualifying for the Boston Marathon the first summer after his diagnosis, purposefully around the date he was told he would no longer be here. As his second act of defiance and inspiration, he started and finished the Boston Marathon in April 2025 despite the Cancer progressing prior. Forever inspired by the work being done at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, in June 2024 and 2025 he led his team in the Ride to Conquer Cancer for the full 200km ride. From his lived experience with Cholangiocarcinoma, Dana founded “Running  with Hope” (podcast link) to promote awareness, research and treatment options for this disease. He intends for his message to stretch far beyond those impacted by Cancer, to anyone who strives to accomplish something the world says is not possible. This was his legacy that will live on.

Gratitude is expressed to medical professionals and other caregivers, too numerous to name.  Though, most notably, Carolee, Erin and Jordan. 

Visitations will be held at Erb & Good Family Funeral Home, 171 King St. South in Waterloo, on Thursday, October 30th, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. The Funeral Service will be held at Calvary Memorial  United Church, 91 Gruhn St in Kitchener, on Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 1 p.m. with adjacent street parking, as well as behind KCI.  A Reception follows.  Interment will be at a later date.

A livestream and recording of the funeral service will be available on Dana’s tribute page at www.erbgood.com.

 In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to The Princess Margaret Foundation which can be arranged with the Funeral Home at www.erbgood.com or 519-745-8445, and join us next June for the Ride to Conquer Cancer as part of “Team Dana”.