John died peacefully and with great dignity at St. Andrews Community Hospital, Scotland, on 13 September 2025. He had been living for several years with Myasthenia Gravis, a rare autoimmune condition.  He will be deeply missed by his wife of 59 years, Elizabeth, by his children Christopher and Alice, his grandson Natty, his daughter-in-law Parima, and also by his wider family, friends, former colleagues, and neighbours.

John was born 5 August 1940 in Guelph, Ontario. His education began in a one room schoolhouse in Moffat Ontario; he went on to achieve a BA in Journalism and an MA in International Relations from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in International Relations from the London (UK) School of Economics.  He is well known for his work as Professor and founding member of the Political Science Department and as Chief Librarian at the University of Guelph. His technological innovations included a CD-ROM library catalogue and an early computer conferencing capability (CoSy). He was the first Canadian appointed Chair of the Association of Research Libraries; he was also named Honorary Chief Librarian of the Beijing Agricultural Library. John later became Director of Information Systems at the International Red Cross in Geneva.

Elizabeth and John eventually settled in St. Andrews, Scotland, where he continued to share his skills as a volunteer with the Rotary Club and with the local Preservation Trust. John will be remembered for his many professional, personal, and humanitarian contributions.

Donations in honour of John may be made to the Red Cross (https://shorturl.at/gxHyX) or the Rotary (https://www.rotarygbi.org/donate).