Jerry Miller
Friend

It’s difficult to find words befitting a friendship spanning almost 50 years. I will remember Lee as an innovative and dedicated professional who was instrumental in development of leading-edge image processing relevant to diagnostics and treatment planning for radiation therapy.  His contributions have benefitted Canadians at several cancer treatment centres. He leaves a legacy of knowledge which has contributed to the foundations of present and evolving imaging applications in medicine.

Beyond Lee’s professional accomplishments, he is also remembered as a friend imbued with dignity, playful humour, cogent advice and a profound appreciation for sun, water, beers, sailing, travel and hearty food.  Lee and Scott, Laurie and I have shared many happy hours, barbecues and reminiscences of life’s most meaningful gifts. Smooth sailing, dear friend.

Jerry & Laurie

I considered Lee a good friend, having met him and Scott when we were all involved in a community problem. He helped me many times with electronic challenges I was having. I could tell he must be a very smart engineer by snippets of work stories he would tell but Lee was modest and never really disclosed how good he was. I will miss  our political discussions, and his laugh, especially when we shared our take on the latest Colbert show.  Lee never missed an episode. I will miss our lunches out, mostly at Original Joes, always sharing a calamari appetizer.  Lee was a kind,  generous man who loved nature. The “hummers” will miss him. He left his mark and is gone but never forgotten.

I extend my sincere condolences to Lee's companion and the entire  Santon family.

Lee played a major role in medical physics and engineering applied to cancer imaging and radiation therapy.  He was a brilliant  engineer with "bilingual" skills in hardware and software design and maintenance.

When I arrived as a PhD student at Princess Margaret Hospital in 1973, Lee had developed a  computer graphics interface to display   3D digital images on a custom-modified Sony Trinitron TV.  It was used to  display cross-sectional slices and 3D views of  the body - preceding x-ray CT scans that appeared only a few years later.

In 1979, Lee was recruited to  our software team at the Cross Cancer Institute  where one of the first  "3D" computer systems was being developed for radiation  treatment planning . This greatly improved the precise targeting  of tumours with radiation beams. The Alberta (ATP) system was used  in both Edmonton and Calgary for many years - well past the typical  "best before" of software. The code was  also later adopted to run on less expensive PC workstations .  The code was used into the early 1990's at the London Regional Cancer Centre. 

Working with Lee was always a productive and fun adventure, filled with creative ideas and lots of humour. Many of the Toronto, Edmonton, and London research teams including their students benefited from Lee's contributions. He will be missed. 

Jerry Battista
Professor Emeritus
Department of Medical Biophysics
Western University

It is with sincere and immense sadness that I heard of Lee’s passing.  His knowledge and experience with all things electronic (and tube based) extended over many decades and was only surpassed by his ability to understand the language of complicated computer operating and communication systems, and their interconnections.  Beyond that, he was a good friend and we shared many happy times, meals and beers together both during the Medical Physics days at the Cross and up to this year.  He played a major part in my life as colleague, mentor and friend and will be sorely missed.

OBITUARY

Lee Walter Santon

Passed away on 22 AUGUST, 2025

Parkland Funeral Services

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