Dac Quy Dang

Dac Dang was born at An Thanh, Vietnam on September 18, 1942 and passed away at Mission, BC on July 6, 2025 after a raging, valiant fight against health issues that had plagued him most of his adult life. He is survived by his wife, Ellen and son, Quang of Vancouver, three sisters in Montreal, a brother in Toronto , a brother in Saigon and a large extended family of nieces, nephews and cousins.

After completing an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at the university of Adelaide, South Australia, Dac came to Calgary in 1967 to pursue doctoral and postdoctoral degrees. He was very proud of the fact that he had solved two complex sets of math problems that would have an impact on finite elements. He had a perfect GPA throughout his university career, but in his usual manner, never mentioned these remarkable achievements and rarely used his title of Doctor.

He abandoned his research in favour of a teaching career and lectured at Mount Royal University for 33 ½ years. His student’s successes gave him great joy.

Dac was a very proud family man and Canadian. He would take his family to many of the most exciting and remote spots in Canada, travelling across Canada more than twenty times. He also returned to Australia for a 3 ½ month camping trip with his family.

Dac was the second Vietnamese to come to Calgary. He considered volunteerism an important part of his life. His contributions included helping to develop the foreign graduate student’s society, getting married student housing started and organizing the debate society at the U of C. He also managed to coach the U of C judo team to a respectable second with no black belts on the team. Dac’s involvement with U of C sports lasted three decades as he took photos of all the sports teams. His volunteerism extended into the community at large. In 1972 after several frustrating attempts, he successfully founded Jazz Calgary. Dac was involved with field hockey for many decades and credits the sport for saving his life. He was both a participant and a coach and in the words of one of his former players Dac gave a lot of his time to others. A passionate fisherman, gardener, nature lover, wine enthusiast and artist had at the time of his passing, just completed a show of new works, yet to be exhibited.

He was kind and gentle of spirit but with very firm convictions. He could argue his point strongly while maintaining friendships with people who did not share the same opinion. A rare skill, especially these days.

The family would like to send our sincerest thank you to Mission Memorial Hospital ADC and ICU who allowed us to keep Dac home with us until the end. Also, a huge thank you to Dr. Mike Christian and his team at Abbotsford ICU for allowing the family to say their final good-byes.

If family and friends so desire, please make a donation to Canadian Blood Services or consider donating blood or plasma in memory of Dac.