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William Donald "Don" Edwards
March 29, 1926 - August 23, 2018
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<div itemprop="description">Don passed away on August 23, 2018, while surrounded by his loving family in Ottawa. Don is survived by wife Barbara, children Ron (Liz), Alex (Alison), Chris (Karen) and Catherine, as well as his grandchildren Courtney and Violet, Spencer and Claire, Anna and Sophia, and Calixa. Predeceased by granddaughter Chloe. <br>He was born in Stafford, England, on March 29, 1926. He had a long and productive life. His best choices were to immigrate to Canada in 1950 for a post-doctorate fellowship and to marry Barbara Ann Roberts of Ottawa in 1955. <br> <br>Don was the first in his family to go to university, winning a scholarship and then a Phd in physics from the University of Birmingham. He published more than 50 scientific papers and obtained several patents on topics such as space electronics and semiconductors, including pioneering work on crystal growth for transistors. He began his career at the National Research Council in Ottawa, and then spent three decades at the Communications Research Centre in Shirleys Bay. <br> <br>Don spent much of his free time in his gardens overlooking the Ottawa River. He hated cold Canadian winters, so when summer came he spent many hours outside among his vegetables and flowers. He was also an expert fixer of anything mechanical, from cars to boat motors to various devices to keep the blasted deer from nibbling his plants. <br> <br>Don and Barbara were adventurous, and travelled to dozens of countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Perhaps the most daring trip was a two-month solo drive through the desert interior of Australia in 1956 in a Ford sedan, making them the first tourists to reach Curtin Springs, the gateway to Ayers Rock. Don documented all his trips in thousands of slides, while Barbara documented their life together in thousands of pages of her daily journals. <br> <br>Don was a devoted and loving husband and father. He was brilliant, honest, dedicated, practical, frugal, and skeptical of authority. Don and Barbara made many friends in their community on Grandview Road, Nepean, where they lived for five decades. <br> <br>Don knew that he could not have succeeded in life without the unfailing love and support of his wife of 63 years. Barbara was everything to him, and the older he grew the more appreciative of her love and support he became. <br> <br>Family and friends are invited to visit at Cole Funeral Services & Pinecrest Remembrance, 2500 Baseline Road, Ottawa on Monday, August 27, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Following visitation a Funeral Service will take place in the Pinecrest Remembrance Chapel at 12:00 noon. Interment to follow at Pinecrest Cemetery followed by a time of refreshments & fellowship in the Pinecrest Solarium. <br> <br>In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Don can be made to the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation. <br> <br></div>