Death Notices

HUSSELL, David John Trevis (July 24th, 1934 – April 10th, 2015) - Died suddenly of a massive stroke.  Survived by his wife Erica Dunn of Simcoe, sons Jeremy of Simcoe and Peter (Kate) of Toronto, their son Ian.  Brother to siblings Sheila Severn, Christopher Hussell and Rosemary Guy, all of the UK.  Soon after immigrating from England, David helped found the Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) in 1960.  He served as its first Executive Director from 1974 -1982, developing most of the program areas carried on today by Bird Studies Canada (BSC), itself a creation of LPBO.  He continued to be involved in LPBO and BSC research activities throughout his subsequent employment as Research Scientist for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and throughout retirement.  In each of the past 8 years he did summer field work in Iqaluit, Nunavut.  David published research papers on a wide variety of species and topics and was still preparing new papers at the time of his death.  He received numerous awards recognizing his work, including life-time achievement awards from the Society of Canadian Ornithologists, the Hawk Migration Association of North America and the Linnaean Society of New York.  He is perhaps best known for foundational work on using counts of migrating birds as a means of tracking population change in Canada’s remote boreal forest.  Always curious about how the natural world works, he inspired similar interests in numerous student volunteers who are now also professional biologists.  A celebration of David's life will be held at the Long Point Waterfowl Research and Education Centre on Saturday, May 30th, 2015 at 2:00 p.m.  The JASON SMITH FUNERAL CHAPEL, 689 Norfolk St. North Simcoe in care of arrangements.  Those wishing to donate in memory of David are asked to consider the Hamilton Community Foundation’s Cygnus Fund (in support of the Long Point Bird Observatory).  Personal online condolences at www.smithfuneralchapel.com (519) 426-0199